gg^^g 


Peter    W^.    Collins 
Lvibrary 

1953 


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tssf^si:^ 


The  Old  Corner  Book 

Store,  Inc. 
Boston,       -       Mass. 


THE 

IRISH    CONVENTION 


AND 


SINN    FEIN 


THE 

IRISH      CONVENTION 


AND 


SINN    FEIN 


IN    CONTINUATION   OF    ''A  HISTORY   OF  THE 
IRISH  REBELLION  OF   1916  " 


BY 


WARRE  B.  WELLS  &  N.  MARLOWE 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBRARY 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS, 


NEW  YORK 

FREDERICK    A.    STOKES    COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 


132381 


Printed  by  John  Falconer^  Dublin. 


PREFATORY    NOTE 

This  book  is  written  in  continuation  of  "  A 
History  of  the  Irish  RebelHon  of  1916,"  by  the 
same  authors.  In  it,  as  in  its  predecessor,  their 
attitude  is,  to  the  best  of  their  capacity  for  politi- 
cal detachment,  purely  historical.  They  endeavour 
''to  exhibit,  not  to  criticise,  conflicting  tendencies 
in  present-day  Ireland.  Their  especial  purpose  is 
to  place  the  work  of  the  Irish  Convention  in  its  due 
relation  to  contemporary  events  in  Irish  history. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTEE  I. 
The  Origin  of  the  Convention. 

PAGE 

Ireland  after  the  Rebellion — The  Growth  of  Sinn.  Fein — The 
Military  Aspect — Nationalist  Party's  Position — The  Con- 
scription Question — Mr.  Redmond's  New  Policy — The 
Dublin  Police  Incident — Ireland  and  the  New  Govern- 
ment— Release  of  Interned  Prisoners — Convention  Policy 
versus  Sinn  Fein  Policy — The  Irish  Conference  Committee 
— North  Roscommon  Election — Arrests  in  Ireland — 
Nationalist  Manifesto  to  Am.erica — The  First  Sinn  Fein- 
Convention — South  Longford  Election — The  Convention 
Scheme — Its  Reception  in  Ireland — Constitution  of  the 
Convention — Major  Redmond's  Death — The  General 
Amnesty— First  Meeting   of  the    Convention.  1 

CHAPTER   II. 

Sinn  Fein  Policy. 

The  East  Clare  Election — Mr.  de  Valera's  Ascendency — The 
Intervention  of  Mr.  Austin  Harrison — Hunger  Strikes — 
The  Death  of  Thomas  Ashe — Attitude  of  the  Government 
— Clericalism  and  Sinn  Fein — The  "  Hidden  Hand  " — 
The  Sinn  Fein  Convention — Constitution  of  the  Movement 
— Its  Aims  and  Programme — Sinn  Fein  and  Labour — The 
Peace  Conference  Policy — Its  Theoretical  Basis — Its 
Practical  Possibilities — Sinn  Fein  and  the  Food  Supply — 
Raids  for  Arms — The  South  Armagh  Election — Sinn  Fein 
and   America — A    Success   for   the  Parliamentary   Party.      50 


CHAPTER  III. 

Thei  Convention. 

Its  Representative  Claims — Personal  Notes  on  the  Delegates — 
Mr.  Redmond,  Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  and  "  A<1  " — The 
UUter       Unionist       Delegates — Labour       Members — Local 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Representatives — The  Southern  Unionists — Churchmen 
and  Statesmen — The  Nominated  Members — Mi\  Murphy''s 
Position — Full  List  of  Delegates — The  Secretariat — Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Convention — Its  Secrecy — PreUminar]) 
Procedure — Grand  Committee  Appointed — Visits  to  Belfast 
and  Cork — Reference  to  Grand  Committee — The  Midleton 
Compromise — Resumed  Sittings  of  Full  Convention — The 
Deadlock — Mr.  Lysaght's  Resignation — Sir  Ed^uard 
Carson's  Position — Intervention  of  the  Government — 
America  and  the  Convention — Delegation  to  the  Cabinet — 
Mr.  Dillon  and  Sinn  Fein — '^Bolshevism""  in  Ireland — 
Proclamation  of  Clare — Reassembly  of  Conventioyi.  83 


CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Report  and  After. 

Death  of  Mr.  Red^nond — 'The  Southern  Unionist  "  Cave  " — 
Waterford  Election — Drafting  of  Convention's  Report — 
A  Remarkable  Coincidence — Conscription  for  Ireland — 
Conventions  Report  Presented  to  the  Government — The 
Prime  Minister  and  Ireland — The  Report  of  the  Conven- 
tion— Ulster  and  Finance — The  Chairman's  Letter  of 
Transmission — Ireland  and  Conscription — Organisation  of 
Resistance — The  Dublin  Mansion  House  Conference — 
Action  of  the  Hierarchy — The  Pledge  against  Conscription 
— Nationalist  Party's  Abstension  Policy — The  General 
Strike — Reaction  on  Home  Rule  Proposal — "  No  Popery  " 
— Sir  Edward  Carson's  Veto — The  Wreck  of  the  Conven- 
tion— Changes  in  Irish  Executive — Sir  Horace  Plunkett's 
Appeal — The  End  of  a  Chapter.  121 


THE 

IRISH    CONVENTION 

AND 

SINN    FEIN 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE    ORIGIN    OF    THE    IRISH    CONVENTION 

We  ended  our  ''History  of  the  Irish  Rebellion  of 
1916  ''  with  the  question — "  Would  the  influence 
of  the  Rebellion  produce,  in  spite  of  the  failure 
of  the  first  impulse  in  that  direction,   a  secure 

and   lasting    Irish   settlement?     Or   else ?  '' 

That  History  was  brought  to  a  temporary  close 
with  the  date  of  July  28th,  1916,  the  date  on  which 
Mr.  Asquith,  in  the  House  of  Commons,  announced 
the  final  failure  of  Mr.  Lloyd  George's  attempt  to 
negotiate  a  settlement  on  the  basis  of  the  policy 
known  in  Ireland  as  "  Partition '' — the  exclusion 
of  the  six  counties  of  Ulster  from  the  Home  Rule 
Act  of  1914.  The  present  book  continues  the 
political  history  of  Ireland  from  that  point  down 
to  the  issue  of  its  report  by  the  Irish  Convention 
entrusted  in  the  summer  of  1917  with  the  task  of 
endeavouring  to  find  an  answer  to  the  question 
with  which  our  earlier  volume  closed. 

Sir  Horace  Plunkett  played  so  important  a  part 
in  the  main  event  described  in  this  book  that  we 
may  suitably  begin  it  by  quoting  his  compact 
account  of  the  political  situation  as  it  existed  in 
the  summer  of  1916.    The  future  chairman  of  the 

II.  A 


2    THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

Convention  had  strongly  opposed  the  partition 
scheme  and  had  proposed  as  an  alternative  that  the 
Irish  Government  should  be  put  "  into  commis- 
sion " — its  administration  to  be  placed  in  the  hands 
of  an  Executive  Council,  consisting  of  Irishmen 
of  recognised  standing,  drawn  from  different  parts 
of  Ireland,  and  fairly  representative  of  the  main 
interests  and  currents  of  opinion  in  the  country, 
while  any  Irish  legislation  which  was  necessary 
would  remain  in  the  Imperial  Parliament,  where 
it  would  be  looked  after  by  the  Irish  represent- 
atives. In  urging  this  proposal,  which  was  not 
adopted,  against  the  partition  scheme,  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett  wrote  in  a  public  letter  in  June, 
1916  : — "  The  present  state  of  the  Irish  question 
must  make  the  angels  weep,  though  they 
may  indulge  in  an  occasional  laugh  at  the  anom- 
alies with  which  the  tragedy  is  relieved.  The  Irish 
Government  has  been  swept  away  by  a  Rebellion 
made  in  Germany,  with  which  country  Ireland  is 
at  war.  Downing  Street  and  Dublin  Castle  were 
equally  surprised  by  events  elaborately  planned  in 
New  York  and  Berlin.  Home  Rule  has  been  placed 
on  the  Statute  Book  to  please  the  "  South  and 
West '' ;  its  operation  was  suspended  for  fear  of 
stirring  up  trouble  in  Ulster.  The  North,  where 
armed  opposition  to  Parliament,  one  of  the  chief 
causes  of  the  Rebellion,  originated,  remained  quiet ; 
in  no  Southern  constituency  affected  had  its  repre- 
sentatives in  Parliament  any  knowledge  of,  or 
responsibility  for,  the  rising.  So,  while  Home 
Rule  is  the  law  of  the  land  for  North  and  South 
alike,  both  are  under  Martial  Law." 

Attempting  to  set  out  briefly  and  clearly  the 
main  facts  of  the  situation  with  which  Mr.  Lloyd 
George  had  to  deal.  Sir  Horace  Plunkett  pro- 
ceeded : — "  Ireland  is  quiet  at  the  moment,  but  the 
military  executions  and  deportations  have  widened 
and  deepened  the  influence  of     Sinn  Fein.        A 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION         3 

Rebellion,  which  was  condemned  at  the  time  of  its 
action,  has  set  in  in  favour  of  the  promoters  of  the 
occurrence  by  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  Nationalists. 
The  opposition  to  the  Parliamentary  Party  is 
increasing  steadily  in  Ireland,  and  might  take  tJie 
form  of  a  dangerous  revolt  against  Constitutional 
methods.  In  the  United  States,  we  are  told  in  the 
Press,  the  German-Irish  alliance  is  trying  to  use 
Irish  unrest  for  the  purpose  of  stopping  the  export 
of  munitions  to  the  Allies.  The  enemies  both  of 
tne  British  Government  and  of  the  Irish  Parlia- 
mentary Party  are  proclaiming  that  Ireland  is 
again  going  to  be  tricked  out  of  Home  Rule,  that 
tne  iict  on  the  Statute  Book  is  a  mere  invoice,  and 
that  there  is  no  intention  of  delivering  the  goods. 
And  then  there  is  Ulster,  where  Sir  Edward 
Carson's  followers,  who  two  years  ago  threatened 
Civil  War  rather  than  submit  to  the  will  of  Parlia- 
ment, feel  that  their  attitude  has  been  justified  by 
the  Rebellion,  and  are  determined  that,  at  any  rate, 
so  far  as  the  six  wealthiest  and  most  progressive 
counties  of  their  province  are  concerned,  the  goods 
shall  not  be  delivered."  In  these  circumstances 
Sir  Horace  Plunkett  described  the  task  with  which 
Mr.  Lloyd  George  found  himself  confronted  as  a 
three- fold  task.  "  He  had  to  dispel  once  and  for 
ail  any  doubt  there  may  be  as  to  the  good  faith  of 
the  Government  in  the  matter  of  Home  Rule,  to 
put  an  end  to  the  possibility  of  Civil  War,  and  to 
improve  the  chances  of  a  satisfactory  final  settle- 
ment of  the  Irish  Question  after  the  war."  In 
that  task  Mr.  Lloyd  George  failed,  and  no  serious 
attempt  to  fulfil  it  was  made  for  a  full  year  after- 
wards. Sir  Horace  Plunkett's  description,  however, 
may  be  permitted  to  stand  as  a  tolerably  faithful 
estimate  in  the  political  situation  in  Ireland  in  the 
summer  of  1916,  after  the  failure  of  the  first 
attempt  at  settlement  which  immediately  followed 
the  Rebellion. 


4    THE   CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

Superficially  nothing  was  changed.  The  form 
of  Castle  Government,  which  Mr.  Asquith  had 
described  as  finally  discredited,  was  completely 
restored.  To  general  surprise  Lord  Wimborne  had 
been  reappointed  Lord  Lieutenant.  Mr.  Birrell 
was  succeeded  as  Chief  Secretary  by  Mr.  Duke,  the 
Unionist  member  for  Exeter,  about  whom  little 
was  known  except  that  his  desire  for  settlement 
was  sincere ;  and  Irish  politicians  were  sympathetic 
towards  him  at  the  outset  of  his  difficult  career. 
Ihe  country  remained  under  Martial  Law,  and  the 
military  authority  was  invested  with  greater  re- 
sponsibility than  the  civil.  Sir  John  Maxwell,  who 
had  suppressed  the  Rebellion  with  an  iron  hand, 
was  retained  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Forces 
in  Ireland.  A  popular  demand  for  his  removal 
had  sprung  up  immediately  after  the  suppression 
of  the  Rebellion,  and  continued  in  gathering 
volume.  This  demand  was  not  met  until  the  follow- 
ing November,  when  he  was  succeeded  by  Sir 
Bryan  Mahon,  an  Irish  General  who  had  com- 
manded the  Irish  Division  in  Gallipoli;  but  as  a 
concession  to  the  Nationalist  Party  Lord  Lans- 
downe  announced  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  July 
12th  that  Sir  Neville  Chamberlain,  who  had  asked 
to  be  relieved  of  his  duties,  was  about  to  be  suc- 
ceeded as  Inspector- General  of  the  Royal  Irish 
Constabulary  by  "  a  gallant  officer  whose  record 
inspires  us  with  confidence,  and  who  will,  we  be- 
lieve, be  regarded  favourably  by  all  political 
parties  in  Ireland."  This  officer  proved  to  be 
Brigadier-General  John  Aloysius  Byrne.  The 
duties  of  administering  the  restraints  imposed 
under  Martial  Law  devolved,  of  course,  more  in- 
timately upon  the  Constabulary  than  upon  the 
Military,  and  the  Government  apparently  im- 
agined that  its  administration  would  be  less 
unacceptable  in  the  hands  of  an  Inspector-General 
who  was  an  Irishman  and  a  Roman  Catholic. 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION         5 

By  this  time,  however,  public  feeling  in  Nation- 
alist Ireland  had  passed  into  a  condition  in  which 
the  question  of  the  personnel  of  administration 
was  of  little  practical  consequence.  In  all  her 
history  Ireland  has  seen  no  more  remarkable  re- 
vulsion of  political  opinion  than  that  which 
followed  the  Rebellion  of  1916.  The  Rebellion 
occurred  at  a  moment  when  the  first  fine  careless 
rapture  of  Nationalist  Ireland's  emotional  war 
interest  was  wholly  spent,  and  the  country  was  in 
a  state  of  reaction  to  war — weariness  and  disillu- 
sion. It  was  in  this  atmosphere  that  the  disaffection 
which  issued  in  the  Rebellion  came  to  a  head. 
But,  though  strategically  the  Rebellion  was 
serious,  politically  it  was,  in  itself,  trivial.  It  was 
not,  except  indirectly  and  remotely,  a  product  of 
the  political  philosophy  known  before  its  occur- 
rence as  Sinn  Fein.  That  political  philosophy 
made  its  limited  appeal  first  to  a  small  company  of 
writers  and  scholars,  and  next  to  some  extent  to 
the  smaller  bourgeoisie  of  the  cities.  Sinn  Fein 
nationalism  was  doctrinaire;  it  could  not  acquire 
the  character  of  agitation.  The  Rebellion  of  1916, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  behind  it  the  driving  force 
of  economic  misery,  together  with  that  strong 
emotional  nationalism  which  has  always  been  a 
characteristic  of  the  very  poor  in  Irish  cities. 
It  was  primarily  and  essentially  a  revolt  of  the 
Dublin  slums,  using  as  its  military  instrument 
the  Citizen  Army,  founded  by  James  Larkin 
during  the  great  strike  of  1912 — a  revolt  of 
the  Dublin  slums  in  alliance  with  the  neo- 
Fenianism  surviving  in  the  secret  society  known 
as  the  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood,  and 
using  as  its  military  instrument  the  Irish  Volun- 
teers. The  Rebellion,  then,  was  not  in  any  exact 
definition  of  the  term  Sinn  Fein,  and  the  political 
philosophy  which  bore  that  name  was  before  it  of 
only   moderate   consequence    in   Irish    life.     The 


6    THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

Rebellion  failed  so  completely  and  so  early  for  the 
precise  reason,  very  largely,  that  the  great  mass  of 
the  Irish  people  did  not  approve  of  it,  and  had  not 
been  consulted  about  it;  a  majority  condemned 
Pearse  and  Connolly  as  impractical  visionaries. 
Nevertheless,  a  very  short  time  after  the  outbreak 
Sinn  Fein  was  a  potent  force  in  Ireland,  and  a 
very  large  part,  perhaps  a  majority,  of  the  Irish 
people  gloried  in  avowing  themselves  Sinn  Fein, 

A  political  phenomenon  so  remarkable,  and 
destined  to  exert  such  a  large  influence  in  the 
development  of  political  events  in  Ireland,  is 
worthy  of  something  more  than  superficial 
study.  "  The  truth  is,''  wrote  Mr.  James  Stephens 
on  the  morrow  of  the  rising,  "  that  Ireland  is  not 
cowed.  She  is  excited  a  little.  She  is  gay  a  little. 
She  was  not  with  the  Rebellion,  but  in  a  few  weeks 
she  will  be,  and  her  heart,  which  was  withering, 
will  be  warmed  by  the  knowledge  that  men  have 

thought  her  worth  dying  for If  freedom 

is  to  come  to  Ireland,  as  I  believe  it  is,  then  the 
Easter  Insurrection  was  the  only  thing  which  could 
have  happened.  I  write  as  an  Irishman,  and  am 
momentarily  leaving  out  of  account  every  other 
consideration.  If,  after  all  her  striving,  freedom 
had  come  to  her  as  a  gift,  as  a  peaceful  present 
such  as  is  sometimes  given  away  with  a  pound  of 
tea,  Ireland  would  have  accepted  the  gift  with 
shamefacedness,  and  have  felt  that  her  centuries 
of  revolt  had  ended  in  something  very  like  ridicule. 
The  blood  of  brave  men  had  to  sanctify  such  a 
consummation  if  the  national  imagination  was  to 
be  stirred  to  the  dreadful  business  which  is  the 
organising  of  freedom.  .  .  .  Following  on  such 
tameness,  failure  might  have  been  predicted,  or  at 
least  feared,  and  war  (let  us  call  it  war  for  the 
sake  of  our  pride)  was  due  to  Ireland  before  she 
could  enter  gallantly  into  her  inheritance.  We 
might  have  crept  into  liberty  like  some  domestic- 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION         7 

ated  man,  whereas  now  we  may  be  allowed  to  march 
into  freedom  with  the  honours  of  war  .  .  .  ." 
It  follows  necessarily  from  her  history  that  the 
popular  historical  heroes  of  Nationalist  Ireland 
after  the  semi-legendary  figures  of  bardic  times, 
and  those  first  opponents  of  foreign  invasion  such 
as  Brian  Boroimhe,  are  the  men  who  have  resisted 
in  arms  the  domination  of  England — who  are,  in 
other  words,  "  rebels."  Art  McMurrough  Kavanagh, 
who  waged  successful  war  against  Richard  11. ;  the 
long  line  of  Geraldines  from  Garrett  in  the  time  of 
the  Tudors  to  Lord  Edward;  the  O'Neills  and 
O'Donnells  of  Ulster,  whose  century  of  intermittent 
rebellion  culminated  in  the  flight  of  the  "  wild 
geese  "  at  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
to  be  renewed  half  a  century  later ;  Sarsfield  in  the 
war  of  William  and  James  (who  ranks  as  a 
"  rebel  "  in  English  history) ;  Wolfe  Tone  and  the 
Emmets  a  hundred  years  later;  Mitchel,  Smith 
O'Brien,  Meagher  and  the  other  "  Young  Ire- 
landers  "  of  1848;  James  Stephens  and  the  Fenian 
leaders  of  1867 — these  are  the  national  heroes  of 
Ireland.  The  more  recent  change  in  the  political 
struggle  between  Ireland  and  Great  Britain  from 
the  sphere  of  physical  force  to  constitutional  action 
had  not  efected  their  memory.  Nationalist  Ireland 
has  never  admitted  the  validity  of  the  claim  that, 
as  an  essential  article  of  any  treaty  of  political 
peace  with  England,  as  an  earnest  of  her  loyalty 
to  the  British  connexion,  she  should  make,  as  it 
were,  a  formal  act  of  self-humiliation,  a  formal 
repudiation  of  her  history  of  rebellions  and  of  her 
famous  rebels.  "  She  may  enter  the  Council  of 
Empire,"  wrote  Kettle,  "  provided  that  she  enters 
on  her  knees  and  leaves  her  history  outside  as  a 
shameful  burden.  This  is  not  a  demand  that  can 
be  conceded,  or  that  men  make  on  men  .... 
In  days  rougher  than  ours,  when  a  blind  and 
tyrannous  England  sought  to  drown  the  national 


8    THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

faith  of  Ireland  in  a  sea  of  blood,  there  arose 
among  our  fathers  men  who  annulled  that  design. 
We  cannot  undertake  to  cancel  the  names  of  these 
men  from  our  calendar.  We  are  no  more  ashamed 
of  them  than  the  constitutional  England  of  modern 
times  is  ashamed  of  her  Langtons  and  De  Monte- 
forts,  her  Sydneys  and  her  Hampdens."  With 
that  tradition  behind  them  the  men  of  1916  must 
in  any  case  have  commanded,  whether  their  action 
was  justified  or  not  justified,  approved  by  the  great 
mass  of  the  Irish  people  or  not  approved,  a 
natural  place  in  the  popular  imagination  in  the 
illustrious  succession  of  Ireland's  historic  "  rebels/' 
That  appeal  to  tradition,  to  sentiment,  must  in  any 
circumstances  have  been  potent. 

"  Ireland  was  not  with  the  Rebellion,  but  in  a 
few  weeks  she  will  be."  Mr.  James  Stephens  s 
words  were  written  before  the  immediate  sequel  to 
the  Rebellion.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  matter  not  of  a 
few  months,  but  of  a  few,  and  a  very  few,  days. 
The  events  of  those  few  days  made  a  great  part  of 
Nationalist  Ireland  "  with  the  Rebellion,"  with  a 
swiftness,  and  to  a  degree,  which,  before  they  took 
place,  no  man  in  Ireland  could  have  contemplated. 
The  men  of  1916,  it  has  been  said,  must  in  any  case 
have  taken  a  natural  place  in  the  popular  imagina- 
tion in  the  illustrious  succession  of  Ireland's 
historic  "  rebels."  The  exaction  from  them  of  the 
extreme  penalty  for  their  ofience  at  once  invoked, 
and  invested  their  persons  with,  all  the  ancient 
memories  for  which  that  succession  stood.  It  re- 
placed in  a  moment  an  appeal  to  reason  with  an 
irresistible  appeal  to  sentiment.  The  justice,  or 
even  the  expediency,  of  the  execution  of  the  rebel 
leaders,  the  sentences  of  penal  servitude,  the  whole- 
sale arrests  and  deportations,  announced  day  after 
day  without  publication  of  the  evidence  which 
justified  the  infliction  of  the  capital  penalty,  from 
behind  the  closed  doors  of  Field  Courts-Martial, 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION         9 

are  matters  of  controversy  with  which  this 
historical  record  is  not  concerned.  Their  effect 
on  a  great  mass  of  Irish  opinion,  which  read  of 
them,  as  a  commentator  entirely  unsympathetic 
with  the  Rebellion  wrote  at  the  time,  "  with  some- 
thing of  the  feeling  of  helpless  rage  with  which 
one  would  watch  a  stream  of  blood  dripping  from 
under  a  closed  door,"  is  a  matter  of  historical  fact. 
To  this  mass  of  Irish  opinion,  as  an  immediate  re- 
sult of  them,  the  memory  of  the  thousands  of  Irish 
soldiers  who  had  died  in  the  face  of  the  enemy  in 
France  and  Flanders,  in  Gallipoli  and  Macedonia, 
suddenly  became  less  real  and  vital  than  the 
memory  of  the  dozen  rebels  who  died  at  the  hands 
of  British  firing  parties  in  the  barrack  yards  of 
Dublin.  From  that  moment  the  old  and  deep  but 
hitherto  submerged  emotions  resumed  full  sway 
of  the  national  imagination  and  jostled  out  the 
novel  and  superficial  emotions  induced  by  the 
war  and  Ireland's  earlier  participation  in  it. 
All  the  past  history  of  Nationalist  Ireland  recoiled 
upon  her ;  a  large  part  of  her  people  were  suddenly 
back  in  the  ancient  fierce  mood  of  quarrel  with 
England. 

Two  circumstances  tended  to  confirm  this  mood 
induced  by  the  aftermath  of  the  Rebellion.  One 
was  the  renewed  agitation  which  sprang  up 
immediately  after  its  suppression  for  the  applica- 
tion of  conscription  to  Ireland.  The  opposition 
to  conscription,  deriving  in  part  from  the  re- 
pugnance of  Irishmen  to  compulsion  in  any  form, 
in  part  from  the  fact  that  the  conception  of  the 
war  as  "  Ireland's  war,"  as  the  phrase  went,  had 
never  struck  any  deep  roots  in  the  country,  in  part 
from  the  view  that  Ireland  with  a  declining 
population  could  not  economically  afford  the  drain 
of  manhood  involved,  but  deriving  chiefly  from  the 
belief  that  the  principle  of  nationality  was  vitally 
involved  in  the  question,  and  that  acceptance  of  it 


10    THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

would  fatally  compromise  the  Irish  national  claim 
— this  opposition  was  now  confirmed  by  the  fact 
that  the  Rebellion  was  partly  inspired  by  the 
belief  that  the  application  of  conscription  was 
imminent,  so  that  the  memory  of  the  dead  remained 
a  continuing  inspiration  to  resist  it.  The  other 
circumstance  was  the  Nationalist  Parliamentary 
Party's  acceptance  of  the  principle  of  "  partition  " 
in  the  abortive  negotiations  for  a  settlement  in  the 
summer  of  1916.  Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  at  this 
time,  expressed  himself  as  fearing,  "  that  the 
Government,  relying  on  their  knowledge  of  British 
public  opinion  and  of  the  Parliamentary  situation, 
would  find  that  they  had  wholly  misjudged  the 
feelings  of  the  Irish  people,  and  that  their  pro- 
posal for  setting  up  a  government  without  consult- 
ing the  Irish  electorate  would  arouse  an  opposition 
which  would  drive  tens  of  thousands  of  moderate 
men  into  the  Sinn  Fein  camp." 

These  considerations  serve  to  explain  the  extra- 
ordinary revulsion  of  popular  feeling  which  swept 
over  the  country  after  the  Eebellion  in  the  early 
summer  of  1916.  The  fact  that,  though  the 
Eebellion  in  its  origin  was  only  indirectly  and 
remotely  binn  Fein,  this  revulsion  of  feeling 
associated  itself  with  that  political  theory  is  easily 
intelligible.  The  actual  authors  of  the  Rebellion 
were  dead  or  imprisoned;  the  Citizen  Army  and 
the  Irish  Volunteers  were  disbanded  and  their 
organisations  suppressed;  the  moving  spirits  of 
the  Irish  Republican  Brotherhood  had  retired  into 
their  mysterious  obscurity.  These  rallying  points 
for  the  new  and  vastly  swollen  disaffection  were 
gone;  but  the  outbreak  had  become  loosely  associ- 
ated in  the  public  mind  with  Sinn  Fein;  the  Sinn 
Fein  idea  was  "  in  the  air  '' ;  and  the  revulsion  of 
popular  feeling  naturally  grouped  itself  about  it. 
From  this  point  then,  rather  than  from  anything 
antecedent   to   the   Rebellion,   or  even  from   the 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        11 

Rebellion  itself,  we  may  trace  the  emergence  of  a 
new  and  incalculable  factor  in  the  political  life  of 
Ireland.  In  the  period  immediately  after  the 
Rebellion,  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  year 
1916,  Sinn  Fein  was  scarcely  more  than  an 
emotion,  a  sentiment,  an  "  atmosphere,"  a  stream 
of  tendency  not  yet  canalised  in  a  policy.  It  was  a 
latent  potentiality  rather  than  a  concrete  actuality. 
One  was  conscious  of  a  novel  presence  in  Irish 
thought,  oppressive,  pervasive,  but  impalpable. 

There  was  in  this  period  no  exact  measure  of 
estimation  of  its  influence,  or  even  of  its  scope, 
though  it  was  apparent  that  it  was  widely  diffused. 
Incidents  there  were  as  straws  in  the  wind — most 
significant,  perhaps,  the  election  in  August  by  the 
Gaelic  League,  which  was  in  no  sense  directly 
implicated  in  the  Rebellion,  of  its  new  President 
in  the  person  of  Professor  Eoin  (John)  MaciNeiil, 
who  was  at  the  time  serving  a  life  sentence  for 
alleged  complicity  in  the  rising.  Of  overt  "  mani- 
festations "  of  the  new  spirit  of  revolt  there  was 
none  of  any  consequence.  The  widespread  wear- 
ing of  Republican  badges;  a  certain,  at  first  dis- 
creet, popularity  of  Sinn  Fein  songs,  an  occasional 
appearance  of  the  tricolour  in  the  streets  of  Dublin 
and  other  towns ;  a  few  trivial  street  disturbances 
— these  were  all  the  indices  apparent.  More 
there  could  not  have  been.  The  hand  of  Sir  John 
Maxwell  lay  heavy  upon  the  country.  The  rigours 
of  Martial  Law,  gradually  dwindling  later  into 
almost  complete  disuse,  were  at  first  stern  and  com- 
prehensive. Assembly  and  procession  were  for- 
bidden. 

Certainly  to  the  close  of  1916  Sinn  Fein,  what- 
ever else  it  might  mean,  meant  no  challenge  to  the 
security  of  the  military  position  from  the  Govern- 
ment's point  of  view.  "  We  shall  certainly  admit 
to  the  full,"  said  Lord  Lansdowne  on  behalf  of  the 
G<)vernment  in  the  House  of  Lords  on  July  12th, 


12    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

"  the  obligation  which  lies  upon  us  to  prevent  a 
recurrence  of  these  deplorable  incidents,  and  we 
shall  address  ourselves  to  the  task  without  shrink- 
ing from  it  .  .  .  Under  the  system  which  exists 
at  the  moment  there  ought  not  to  be  much  fear  of 
the  situation  in  Ireland  getting  out  of  hand.  We 
have  Sir  John  Maxwell  responsible,  with  some 
40,000  troops  to  support  him,  and  with  the  control 
of  the  Constabulary  in  his  hands.  We  have  un- 
abated confidence  in  Sir  John  Maxwell,  and  shall 
give  him  all  the  support  to  which  he  is  entitled. 
The  powers  which  he  is  exercising,  and  which  were 
conferred  upon  him  by  the  Defence  of  the  Realm 
Regulations,  are  powers  which  we  are  prepared 
to  extend,  if  necessary,  to  meet  any  emergency 
which  may  arise  .  .  .  The  Prime  Minister  has 
already  stated  that  he  quite  admitted  that  the 
present  condition  of  the  country  requires  the 
utmost  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  Imperial 
Government.  For  a  time  there  was  a  rapid 
increase  in  the  numbers  of  the  Sinn  Fein 
organisation,  but  that  increase  has  dwindled  of 
late.  Although  there  have  been  disquieting  symp- 
toms they  are  less  disquieting  now,  and  the  reports 
show  that  there  has  been  some  improvement  in  that 
respect.  What  is  noteworthy  is  that  there  appears 
to  be  hardly  any  ordinary  crime  in  the  country. 
Lord  Peel  has  suggested  that  our  first  duty 
is  to  govern  Ireland,  and  to  end  if  we  could 
the  mischief  that  has  arisen  during  the  past  few 
years.  We  have  taken  some  steps  already  with 
that  object,  and  we  certainly  will  not  hesitate  to 
take  further  steps  if  they  are  necessary  for  the 
purpose." 

The  Nationalist  Parliamentary  Party's  position 
after  the  abortive  negotiations  for  a  settlement 
was  one  of  great  delicacy,  difficulty  and  com- 
plexity. On  the  one  hand  it  was  anxious  to  avoid 
any  extreme  policy  which  would  alienate  British 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        13 

sympathy.    On  the  other  hand,  with  its  position  in 
the  country   seriously  undermined  by  the  after- 
math of  the  Rebellion,  it  was  impelled  to  adopt  a 
strong  policy  more  or  less  sympathetic  with  the 
Sinn  Fein  point  of  view,  but  with  the  uneasy 
knowledge  that  such  a  policy,  in  so  far  as  it  con- 
tributed towards  giving  greater  freedom  to  the 
new  movement,  was  more  likely  to  strengthen  the 
hands  of  Sinn  Fein  than  to  improve  its  own  position 
in  the  country.    In  the  House  of  Commons  on  July 
31st,  three  days  after  Mr.  Asquith  had  announced 
that  the  Government  did  not  intend  to  proceed 
with  the  abortive  "  partition  "  scheme  of  settle- 
ment, Mr.  John  Dillon  moved  a  resolution  to  the 
effect  "that,  in  view  of  the  announcement  by  the 
Government  that  they  do  not  intend  to  introduce 
their  long-promised  Bill  to  settle  the  government 
of  Ireland,  it  is  vitally  necessary  and  urgent  that 
the  Government  should  disclose  to  the  House  their 
plans  for  the  future  government  of  Ireland  during 
the  continuation  of  the  war.''    In  the  course  of  his 
speech  Mr.  Dillon  declared  that  "  it  was  an  absolute 
fact   that    Sir   John    Maxwell   and    the   present 
system  of  Government  acted  as  better  organisers 
of  disaffection  than  the  organisers  of  the  Sinn  Fein 
movement."    His  speech  was  chiefly  notable  in  that 
it  contained  the  first  hint  of  the  "  Peace  Con- 
ference "  policy  afterwards  adopted  by  Sinn  Fein. 
Mr.  Dillon  asked  : — "  When  the  Government  of 
this  country  and  their  Allies  come  to  consider  the 
settlement  of  the  terms  of  peace  on  the  principle 
of  justice  to  all  small  and  oppressed  nationalities, 
how  could  the  claim  of  Ireland  be  overlooked  ?  " 

In  his  reply  to  Mr.  Dillon,  Mr.  Asquith  sub- 
mitted that,  despite  the  failure  of  the  negotiations, 
"  a  new  situation  in  the  history  of  the  Irish  ques- 
tion had  been  created,  a  situation  which  was  a 
milestone  on  the  road,  and  from  which  they  could 
never  go  back  to  the  old  positions  of  irreconcilable 


14    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

hostility  and  recrimination."  He  then,  declaring 
that  "  from  their  (the  Government's)  point  of  view 
the  present  w^as  a  transitional  period,  of  probably 
short  duration,  and  they  did  not  think  it  desirable 
at  such  a  time  to  make  nev^  experiments,"  an- 
nounced the  appointment  of  Mr.  Duke  as  Chief 
Secretary  and  of  Sir  Robert  Chalmers  as  Under- 
Secretary.^^  "  They  could  not  leave  Ireland  without 
a  civil  Executive,  and  he  trusted  the  arrangement 
he  proposed  would  conduce  to  the  permanent 
settlement  which  everybody  in  Ireland  hoped 
and  desired."  Mr.  John  Redmond,  after  express- 
ing his  feeling  that  what  had  happened  made  a 
peaceful  settlement  in  the  end  absolutely  certain, 
defined  the  Nationalist  Party's  attitude.  "After 
a  few  months  of  chaos  in  the  Government  of  Ire- 
land, the  right  hon.  gentleman  proposed  as  a 
remedy  merely  the  setting  up  of  Dublin  Castle 
again,  with  the  machinery  which  he  himself 
had  said  had  broken  down.  To  do  this  was  a  very 
serious  thing.  His  proposal  for  all  practical  pur- 
poses was  to  set  up  a  Unionist  Executive  in  Ire- 
land. .  .  .  He  (Mr.  Redmond)  must,  in  the  name 
of  his  colleagues,  and  in  his  own  name,  protest 
against  any  such  proposal.  This  was  clear — under 
this  proposal  the  Government  were  taking  on  their 
own  shoulders  full  and  open  responsibility.  Nobody 
could  say  that  the  Nationalists  had  any  respon- 
sibility in  the  matter.  It  left  their  hands  clear. 
It  was  done  in  spite  of  their  earnest  protests,  and 
made  it  their  plain  duty,  once  this  Executive  was 
set  up,  to  watch  and  criticise  and  oppose  the  new 
administration  how  and  when  and  where  they 
pleased."  In  conclusion,  Mr.  Redmond  affirmed 
that  "  in  the  course  of  this  controversy  he  had  not 
for  one  moment  forgotten  the  war.  Notwithstand- 
ing all  that  had  happened,  nothing  would  have  the 

*  Sir  Robert  Chalmers  was  later  succeeded  as  Under-Secretary  by  Sir 
William  Byrne. 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        15 

effect  of  altering  his  view  about  the  war  and  Ire- 
land's duty  towards  the  war.  He  had  declared 
everywhere  in  Ireland  that  this  was  so."  On  the 
following  day,  at  a  meeting  at  the  House  of 
Commons,  the  Nationalist  Party  passed  a  resolu- 
tion to  the  effect  "  that  we  strongly  protest  against 
the  action  of  the  Government  in  reviving  the  dis- 
credited system  of  Dublin  Castle  rule,  already  con- 
demned on  all  sides,  and  condemned  especially  by 
the  Hardinge  Commission,  and  by  the  Prime 
Minister  himself,  and  that  in  our  opinion  the 
appointment  at  this  moment  of  a  Unionist 
Executive  to  carry  on  this  system  is  an  outrage  on 
the  feelings  of  the  Irish  people." 

During  the  Parliamentary  Recess  the  chief 
subject  of  agitation  in  Ireland  was  that  of  conscrip- 
tion. On  September  28th  the  Freeman's  Journal, 
the  official  organ  of  the  Nationalist  Party,  defined 
the  conditions  under  which  voluntary  recruiting 
could  receive  another  chance  in  Ireland.  They 
were  as  follows  : — "  (1)  Conscription  must  never 
be  introduced  in  Ireland  without  Ireland's  con- 
sent. (2)  The  abolition  of  Martial  Law.  (3)  The 
dismissal  of  Sir  Joiin  Maxwell.  (4)  The  with- 
drawal of  the  Coalition  System  from  Ireland. 
(5)  No  further  '  harassing  '  of  Irishmen  tempor- 
arily resident  in  England.  (6)  Resumption  of  the 
work  of  preparing  the  Orders  in  Council  for  bring- 
ing the  Home  Rule  Act  into  operation.  (7)  No 
imprisonment  of  Irishmen  without  trial.  (8)  The 
treatment  of  Irish  Rebellion  prisoners  as  political 
prisoners.  (9)  The  Home  Rule  Act  must  provide 
for  the  'ultimate  integrity'  of  Ireland."  The 
Freeman  said  that  the  observance  of  these  condi- 
tions by  the  British  Government  would  revive 
voluntary  recruiting  in  Ireland.  On  October  9th, 
in  a  speech  at  a  municipal  banquet  in  Dublin,  the 
Lord  Lieutenant  estimated  that  the  number  of  men 
of  military  service  who  were  eligible  and  could  be 
spared  was,  in  round  numbers,  150,000.    He  went 


16    THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

on  to  say  that  the  Irish  Divisions  needed  40,000 
men  before  Christmas,  "  and  I  venture  to  suggest 
that  there  is  an  immediate  duty  and  obligation 
which  rests  upon  Ireland  with  regard  to  her  con- 
tribution, which  is  to  keep  up  the  lighting  strength 
of  the  Divisions  which  have  won  such  laurels  and 
such  fame."  He  added  that  "  although  I  have  con- 
templated, I  have  never  advocated "  compulsion 
in  Ireland;  that  National  Service  in  any  community 
was  not  practicable  without  a  measure  of  general 
assent;  that  there  was  no  such  measure  of  consent 
in  Ireland  at  the  present  time,  but  that  "I  see  no 
reason  why  anybody  should  despair  of  bringing 
home  to  the  Irish  democracy  the  overwhelming  logic 
of  the  facts  which  confront  us."  Lord  Derby  subse- 
quently announced  in  the  House  of  Lords  that  from 
the  date  of  the  Rebellion  to  the  middle  of  October 
eight  thousand  five  hundred  men  had  enlisted  in 
Ireland,  of  whom  three  thousand  five  hundred  were 
Ulstermen. 

On  October  6th  Mr.  Eedmond,  at  the  Tovni  Hall, 
Waterf ord,  made  his  first  appearance  at  a  political 
gathering  in  Ireland  since  the  Rebellion.  There 
was  much  speculation  as  to  the  nature  of  his  re- 
ception and  the  tone  of  his  speech.  His  arrival  at 
tne  hall  was  preceded  by  a  small  disturbance  by 
some  Sinn  Feiners,  but  his  reception  was  cordial. 
The  tone  of  his  speech  was  markedly  harsher  than 
that  of  his  earlier  utterances  in  Parliament.  He 
devoted  much  of  it  to  the  conscription  question 
and  announced  that  "  on  all  else  besides  the  war  we 
must  go  into  open  and  vigorous  opposition."  He 
said  that  the  first  fact  they  must  look  in  the  face 
was  that  a  bad  blow  was  struck  at  the  hopes  of  Ire- 
land by  the  rising  in  Dublin,  engineered  by  men 
who  were  enemies  of  the  constitutional  movement 
for  Home  Rule.  The  real  responsibilty  rested  on 
tne  British  Government,  and  it  was  idle  to  imagine 
that  the  relations  between  Ireland  and  the  Govern- 
ment could  continue  as  they  had  been  before.  Since 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        17 

the  war  commenced  the  conduct  of  the  Government 
towards  this  country  was  marked  by  the  most 
colossal  ineptitude,  want  of  sympathy,  and 
stupidity,  so  much  so  that  their  conduct  would,  he 
believed,  have  chilled  the  confidence  of  any  people, 
much  less  a  people  like  Ireland,  whose  history  had 
taught  them  how  dangerous  it  was  to  trust  the 
English  statesmen;  and  finally  they  suppressed 
the  recent  rising  with  gross  and  panicky  violence, 
and  they  closed,  he  was  sorry  to  say,  their  ears  to 
the  plea  for  clemency.  Now  they  had  recon- 
stituted Dublin  Castle.  Ireland  was  living 
under  a  Tory  Unionist  Executive.  Dublin  Castle 
was  once  again  a  Unionist  stronghold,  and 
Martial  Law  was  in  existence  in  every  part  of  the 
country.  "  And  finally,"  continued  Mr.  Redmond, 
"  let  me  remind  you  that  every  day  the  Unionist 
forces  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  are  observing 
what  is  called  by  a  singular  irony  the  political 
truce  by  doing  all  they  know,  by  taunts,  incite- 
ments and  threats  of  conscription,  to  revive  once 
more  the  old  racial  distrust  and  passions  of  the  two 
peoples.  With  such  a  Government  with  such  a 
record  the  Irish  Nationalist  representatives  can 
have  no  relations  but  those  of  vigorous  opposition." 
Having  declared  that  Ireland's  attitude  so  far  as 
the  war  was  concerned  was  unchanged,  that  the 
Nationalist  Party  would  "  do  nothing  calculated 
to  postpone  by  a  single  instant  the  victorious  end 
of  this  conflict,"  and  that  "  I  do  think  it  would 
be  a  disgrace  to  Ireland  if  the  Irishmen  fighting  at 
the  front  were  left  in  the  lurch,  and  if  Ireland  did 
not  go  to  their  assistance,"  Mr.  Redmond  pro- 
ceeded to  deal  at  length  with  conscription.  He 
refused  to  believe  that  "  malign  though  are  the 
influences  that  are  at  work,  the  Government  will  be 
insane  enough — there  is  no  other  phrase  which 
would  fit  the  intention — to  challenge  a  conflict  with 
Ireland  on  this  matter.     Conscription  in  Ireland. 

B 


18    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

so  far  from  helping  the  Army  and  forwarding  the 
interests  of  the  war,  would  be  the  most  fatal  thing 
that  could  happen.  It  would  be  resisted  in  every 
village  in  Ireland.  The  attempted  enforcement 
would  be  a  scandal  which  would  ring  round  the 
whole  civilised  world.  It  would  produce  no 
additional  men;  in  fact,  the  mere  threat  of  con- 
scription has  to  a  large  extent  paralysed  voluntary 
recruiting."  Mr.  Redmond  concluded  : — "  Now, 
I  say  this  in  all  good  faith  to  the  Government  and 
the  military  authorities  :  the  way  to  continue  to 
get  recruits  is  far  different.  Appease  the  inflamed 
feelings  of  the  Irish  people,  withdraw  Martial 
Law,  make  it  plain  that  the  Defence  of  the  Realm 
Act  is  to  be  administered  in  Ireland  in  the  same 
spirit  as  it  is  in  Great  Britain,  treat  the  prisoners 
of  this  unfortunate  rising  as  political  prisoners, 
put  a  stop  to  the  insults  and  attacks  upon  Ireland, 
and  recognise  generously  and  chivalrously  all  she 
has  done.  On  these  lines  the  Government  will 
succeed  in  recruiting  even  after  all  that  has 
happened;  but  as  for  conscription,  that  way  lies 
madness,  ruin,  and  disa'ster." 

The  new  policy  defined  by  Mr.  Redmond  at 
Waterford  was  at  once  put  into  practice  in  Parlia- 
ment, where  the  Nationalist  Party  gave  notice  of 
the  following  resolution,  and  asked  for  the  earliest 
possible  day  for  its  discussion : — "  That  the 
system  of  government  at  present  maintained  in 
Ireland  is  inconsistent  with  the  principles  for 
which  the  Allies  are  fighting  in  Europe,  and  is, 
or  has  been,  mainly  responsible  for  the  recent  un- 
happy events,  and  for  the  present  state  of  feeling 
in  that  country."  The  meeting  also  adopted  a 
resolution  "  that  the  time  has  come  when  all  the 
untried  prisoners  detained  in  connection  with  the 
Irish  Insurrection  should  be  released,  and  that  all 
the  Irish  prisoners  convicted  of  complicity  in  that 
Insurrection    should,     in    accordance    with    the 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        19 

modern  practice  of  civilised  States,  be  treated  as 
political  prisoners/'  The  first  resolution  was  moved 
by  Mr.  Redmond  on  October  25th ;  and  Mr.  Duke  in 
his  reply,  deciared  that  anyone  who  knew  the 
conditions  in  the  West  of  Ireland  must  be  con- 
vinced of  the  necessity  of  putting  some  restraint 
on  sympathisers  with  the  late  Rebellion.  The 
obstacle  to  granting  Home  Rule,  he  proceeded, 
was  that  Irishmen  themselves  were  not  agreed 
upon  it.  The  difficulty  in  ending  Irish  grievances 
lay  in  Ireland  herself.  As  soon  as  it  was  safely 
possible,  and  not  till  then,  restrictive  measures 
would  be  removed. 

An  incident  which  occurred  in  Dublin  about 
this  time  was  generally  associated  with  the 
Nationalist  Party's  new  policy  of  "  open  and 
vigorous  opposition "  to  the  Government.  An 
agitation  had  sprung  up  in  the  ranks  of  the  Dublin 
Metropolitan  Police  for  increased  pay  and  other 
improvements  in  their  position.  On  October  31st, 
in  moving  the  money  resolution  for  a  Bill  designed 
to  remedy  their  grievances,  Mr.  Duke  referred  to 
"  the  conditions  which  had  existed  in  Dublin 
during  the  last  few  days.  Two  matters,"  he  said, 
"  had  come  into  great  prominence.  One  was  the 
holding  of  meetings  of  the  police,  convened  by 
people  outside,  and  directed  by  people  outside,  for 
the  purpose  of  using  the  condition  of  the  police 
as  an  instrument  of  pressure  on  the  Government. 
Such  meetings  are  held  contrary  to  the  regulations 
of  the  force."  The  second  matter  was  the  enrolment 
of  a  considerable  body  of  the  police  in  the  Ancient 
Order  of  Hibernians — the  sectarian  and  semi- 
secret  "  Friendly  Society "  organised  by  Mr. 
Devlin.  The  police  oath  forbade  membership  in 
any  such  society,  with  the  exception  of  the  Society 
of  Freemasons.  A  week  later  the  Chief  Secretary, 
having  investigated  the  situation  more  fully,  said 
there  had  been  breaches  of  discipline,  but  expressed 


20    THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

himself  as  reluctant  to  believe  that  any  large  body 
of  the  police  had,  in  fact,  joined  the  Hibernians. 
The  risk,  he  said,  was  that  a  body  of  men  would 
run  away  from  their  discipline,  and  would  have  to 
be  displaced.  He  did  not  fear  that  situation  was 
going  to  arise,  unless  the  Dublin  Police  were  egged 
on  and  incited,  and  provoked  to  do  something 
which  he  did  not  conceive  they  had  ever  enter- 
tained. Discipline  must  be  maintained,  but  the 
road  would  be  easy  for  every  man  who  had  not 
committed  an  offence  which  it  was  impossible  not 
to  punish  to  do  his  duty.  Finally  disciplinary 
action  was  taken  against  a  few  of  the  leaders  of 
the  movement  in  the  police;  at  the  same  time  the 
oath  of  service  was  deprived  of  its  exemption  in 
favour  of  the  Freemasons.  The  Irish  Unionist 
papers  demanded  urgently  that  Mr.  Duke  should 
also  take  action  against  the  civilian  agitators  who 
had  tampered  in  war  time  with  the  discipline  of 
an  armed  force  in  the  payment  of  the  State;  but 
nothing  more  was  heard  of  this  aspect  of  the 
trouble. 

Apart  from  this  incident  nothing  further  of 
importance  occurred  until  near  the  end  of  1916. 
The  fall  of  Mr.  Asquith's  Cabinet  and  the  forma- 
tion of  Mr.  Lloyd  George's  Government  in  Decem- 
ber created  great  excitement  in  Ireland.  The  pre- 
dominance of  Unionist  Ministers  in  the  new 
Administration  suggested  to  Nationalists  sinister 
possibilities.  Their  apprehensions  were  expressed 
in  a  series  of  resolutions  adopted  by  the  Parlia- 
mentary Party  on  December  12th,  of  which  the 
first  declared  that  "  while  the  policy  of  this 
Party  in  favour  of  the  vigorous  and  successful 
prosecution  of  the  war  remains  unchanged,  we 
await  the  declaration  of  the  Irish  policy  of  the  new 
Government  before  deciding  on  our  future  attitude 
towards  it,"  the  second  that  "  so  long  as  Ireland 
is   denied    Self-Government,   and   is   held   under 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        21 

Martial  Law  and  hundreds  of  Irishmen  are  in 
prison  without  trial,  she  must  remain  a  source  of 
weakness  and  danger,  instead  of  being,  as  she 
admittedly  would  otherwise  be,  one  of  the  most 
powerful  sources  of  strength  to  the  Empire  in  this 
crisis;"  and  the  third  renewed  the  "warning  that 
any  attempt  to  enforce  conscription  in  Ireland 
would  immediately  produce  disastrous  and  far- 
reaching  results,  and  would,  in  our  judgment, 
gravely  interfere  with  the  successful  conduct  of 
the  war,"  and  that  the  Party  would  accordingly 
resist  "  by  every  means  in  our  power  "  any  pro- 
posal involving  the  application  of  conscription  to 
Ireland. 

On  December  19th,  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  in  out- 
lining the  new  Government's  policy,  made  a  brief 
reference  to  Ireland.  He  said  that  "  while  he  had 
not  yet  been  able  to  devote  any  time  to  the  Irish 
problem,  he  would  consider  a  settlement  as  a  war 
measure  of  the  first  importance  and  a  great  victory 
for  the  Allied  cause."  He  added  that  he  "  still 
felt  that  the  solution  of  the  Irish  question  was 
largely  one  of  a  better  understanding,"  and  con- 
cluded by  saying  that  "  we  shall  strive  by  all  means, 
and  at  many  hazards,  to  produce  that  atmosphere ; 
but  we  ask  men  of  all  races  and  all  creeds  to  help 
us,  not  to  solve  a  political  question,  but  to  do 
something  that  would  be  a  real  contribution  to  the 

winning  of  the  war."     Mr.  Redmond  afterwards 

... 
expressed  his  deep  disappointment  with  the  Prime 

Minister's  "  vague  and  indefinite  "  references  to 
Ireland.  He  asked  as  a  Christmas  gift  to  the 
Irish  people  that  the  Rebellion  prisoners  should  be 
released,  and  said  that  if  the  Government  would 
take  its  courage  in  its  hands  and  make  a  general 
jail  delivery,  it  would  be  doing  more  to  create  a 
better  atmosphere  and  a  better  feeling  than  any- 
thing else  it  could  do.  Mr.  Redmond  went  on  to 
say  that  if  the  Government  intended  to  deal  with 


22    THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

the  final  reconciliation  of  Irish  opinion  by  a  settle- 
ment of  the  Irish  question  there  were  two  or  three 
things  he  would  like  to  say.  The  first  was  that 
time  was  of  the  essence  of  the  matter.  The  worst 
thing  that  could  happen  to  the  Irish  question  was 
that  it  should  be  allowed  to  drift  further.  His 
next  point  was  that  the  Government  should  deal 
with  the  question  boldly  on  its  own  responsibility 
and  initiative.  Mr.  Redmond  did  not  think  any- 
thing was  to  be  gained  by  contemplating  further 
negotiations.  Finally  he  declared  that  the  Govern- 
ment must  not  mix  up  this  question  with  conditions 
of  recruiting  or  conscription,  which  must  be  left 
to  a  change  of  heart  in  Ireland.  In  conclusion  he 
appealed  to  the  Prime  Minister  "  in  Heaven's 
name  let  him  not  miss  the  tide." 

On  the  following  day,  December  20th,  Mr. 
Dillon  renewed  the  Nationalist  demand  for  the  re- 
lease of  the  interned  Rebellion  prisoners.  It  had 
already  been  widely  rumoured  in  Ireland  that  the 
prisoners  would  be  released  before  Christmas. 
Some  disturbance  had  meanwhile  occurred  at  the 
Frongoch  Internment  Camp,  in  North  Wales, 
owing,  as  the  Nationalists  alleged,  to  an  attempt 
to  make  some  of  the  men  turn  informers,  and  dis- 
ciplinary action  had  been  taken  by  the  camp 
authorities.  Mr.  Duke,  in  his  reply  to  Mr.  Dillon, 
explained  that  there  were  originally  3,000  arrests, 
and  went  on  to  deplore  the  shootings  and  imprison- 
ments under  sentences  of  Courts-Martial.  The 
Chief  Secretary  proceeded  to  show  that  of  those 
arrested  who  had  not  been  dealt  with  by 
Courts-Martial,  but  merely  interned  without 
trial,  only  560  remained  interned  after  the 
sifting  of  the  cases  by  an  Advisory  Committee. 
In  the  cases  of  these  men,  he  said,  whom  the 
Committee  were  unable  to  advise  the  Govern- 
ment to  release,  the  door  was  locked  on  the 
inside;  they   refused  to  give  a  required  under- 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        23 

taking  not  to  engage  in  sedition  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  war.  Mr.  Duke  defined  his  duty 
in  Ireland,  as  he  conceived  it,  as  that  of  taking 
care  that  peace  and  order  and  a  better  atmosphere 
— without  which  a  settlement  in  Ireland  would  be 
utterly  impossible — should  not  be  lightly  disturbed 
by  any  means  against  which  he  could  take  pre- 
cautions. After  travelling  the  districts  affected 
some  two  months  before  he  concluded  that  the  time 
had  not  come  when  these  men  could  be  indiscrimi- 
nately turned  loose  on  the  countryside  in  the  West 
of  Ireland  with  any  reasonable  expectation  that 
their  presence  there  would  be  consistent  with 
public  safety.  During  the  past  two  or  three 
months  he  thought  there  had  been  a  steady  im- 
provement and  appeasement  in  Ireland;  but  a 
wholesale  order  of  release,  which  would  be  irre- 
vocable, could  not  be  undertaken  without  making 
sure  of  the  ground;  "  it  could  not  be  done  in  this 
airy  way  to  improve  the  atmosphere,  or  to  make  a 
pledge  of  conciliation  and  peace  to  Ireland."  After 
this  statement  there  was  some  surprise  when  the 
prisoners  were  almost  immediately  released.  They 
reached  Ireland  in  small  parties,  most  of  them  on 
Christmas  Eve,  and  there  was  little  demonstration 
on  their  arrival.  Among  the  released  prisoners 
was  Mr.  Arthur  Griffith,  the  original  founder  of 
the  Sinn  Fein  philosophy.  Their  arrival  was 
followed  by  an  announcement  by  Mr.  John  Dillon 
in  the  Freeman's  Journal  that  the  Nationalist 
Party  next  proposed  to  demand  investigation  of 
the  cases  of  those  sentenced  to  penal  servitude  by 
the  Courts-Martial,  with  a  view  to  the  revision  or 
annulment  of  the  sentences.  Mr.  Dillon  expressed 
his  hope  that  the  Government  "  would  take  the 
bold  and  generous  step  of  declaring  a  general 
amnesty." 

At  the  end  of  1916,  it  may  be  said,  the  two  con- 
flicting tendencies  which  were  to  dominate  Irish 


24    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

politics  during  the  following  year  had  begun  to  dis- 
close themselves.  On  the  one  hand  the  release  of  the 
interned  prisoners,  in  accordance  with  the  Govern- 
ment's new  policy  of  creating  an  "  atmosphere " 
of  appeasement,  in  fact  laid  the  first  foundations 
for  the  growth  of  a  militant  Sinn  Fein  policy, 
which  was  shortly  to  express  itself  as  irreconcil- 
ably opposed  to  a  constitutional  settlement.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  release  of  the  prisoners  was 
by  a  few  days  anticipated  by  the  first  suggestion 
of  what,  in  contrast  with  the  Sinn  Fein  policy, 
may  be  called  the  Convention  policy.  Shortly  be- 
fore Christmas  there  appeared  inconspicuously  in 
the  Dublin  newspapers,  and  with  little  more  than 
perfunctory  notice  in  their  editorial  columns,  a 
circular  issued  by  the  "  Irish  Conference 
Committee."  In  the  formation  of  this  body, 
and  the  issue  of  its  circular,  which  was  addressed 
to  the  Chairmen  of  the  County  Councils 
and  other  public  bodies  in  Ireland,  the  idea  first 
took  coherent  shape  of  an  attempt  to  solve  the 
problem  of  Irish  government  by  means  of  a  Con- 
ference based  on  the  precedent  of  those  which 
secured  the  passage  of  the  Wyndham  Land  Act, 
and  the  establishment  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture and  Technical  Instruction  for  Ireland."^ 

The  circular  issued  by  the  Committee  was  signed 
by  Mr.  Dermod  O'Brien,  President  of  the  Royal 
Hibernian  Academy,  and  read  as  follows  : — "  Be- 
lieving that  all  classes  in  Ireland  are  sincerely  de- 
sirous of  finding  a  solution  of  the  problem  of  Irish 
government  which  will  go  as  far  as  possible  in  re- 
conciling divergent  views,  some  gentlemen,  whose 
names  I  give  below,  have  met  in  Dublin  with  the 
object  of  considering  whether  a  conference  could, 
with  advantage,  be  called  into  being.  These 
gentlemen  have  elected  me  as  Chairman,  pro  tern., 

*  The  "  Recess  Committee,"  preceding    the  latter,    was  presided   over 
by  Sir  Horace  Plunkett. 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        25 

and  it  is  in  this  capacity  that  I  am  now  addressing 
you  at  their  desire.  Before  the  recent  rising  most 
Irishmen,  watching  their  country's  heroism  in  the 
field,  and  marking  the  spirit  of  comradeship  which 
was  growing  up  between  the  men  from  Ulster  and 
from  the  rest  of  Ireland,  had  almost  come  to  believe 
that  out  of  the  supreme  trials  of  many  stricken 
fields  there  would  emerge  some  clue  to  a  political 
settlement  after  the  war  which  all  Irishmen  would 
accept.  Over  these  prospects  the  Rebellion  and 
its  consequences  have  thrown  a  cloud  of  disappoint- 
ment. Yet,  to  many  Irishmen,  the  cloud  is  not 
without  its  silver  lining,  and  we  believe  there 
exists  throughout  Ireland  a  more  widespread  de- 
sire than  ever  before  to  find  some  means  of  settling 
our  political  differences.  In  our  recent  domestic 
history  we  have  striking  examples  of  the  success 
which  Irishmen  in  conference  have  achieved,  not 
only  in  preparing  the  way  for  legislation,  but  in 
creating  such  an  atmosphere  of  mutual  helpful- 
ness and  good-will  that  difficulties,  previously  re- 
garded as  insoluble,  have  yielded  to  the  treatment 
which  has  led  to  far-reaching  and  beneficial  re- 
sults. Indeed,  these  circumstances  appear  to  us  to 
impose  on  all  leading  Irishmen  the  obligation  of 
coming  together  and  considering  in  friendly  con- 
ference what  is  the  best  and  most  generally 
acceptable  means  of  solving  the  problem  that  lies 
before  us.  It  is  in  this  spirit  that  we  ask  youif 
opinion  as  to  the  desirability  of  holding  such  a 
conference.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that  there  is 
no  intention  of  going  behind  the  recognised  Parlia- 
mentary leaders.  It  is  believed,  on  the  contrary, 
that  such  a  Conference,  if  brought  together,  could 
not  fail  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  those  leaders, 
and  might  bring  about  the  settlement  so  univer- 
sally desired." 

The  names  appended  to  the  circular  were  those 
of  Lord  Monteagle,  Lord  MacDonnell,  Walter 
Kavanagh,    Sir    Algernon     Coote,     Sir    Nugent 


26    THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

Everard,  Sir  Gabriel  Stokes,  Captain  Fitzroy 
Hemphill,  Diarmid  Coffey,  Major  J.  Crean, 
James  G.  Douglas,  Joseph  Johnston,  F.T.C.D. ; 
T.  Kennedy,  Edward  E.  Lysaght,  J.  Creed 
Meredith,  George  Russell  ("  M  "),  W.  F.  Trench, 
and  H.  E.  White  (Secretary).  Several  of  its 
signatories  were  afterwards  members  of  the  Con- 
vention, or  of  its  secretariat.  Despite  its  cavalier 
treatment  by  the  Irish  Press  the  circular  was,  on 
the  whole,  well  received  by  the  public  opinion  to 
which  it  was  addressed.  For  its  generally  favour- 
able reception  the  patient  and  unobtrusive  spade- 
work  in  the  interests  of  settlement  which  Mr.  Duke 
had  performed  during  his  frequent  visits  to  Ire- 
land was  probably  in  a  considerable  degree  re- 
sponsible. To  that  work  the  Irish  Conference 
Committee  lent  a  continuous,  assistance.  The 
importance  of  its  influence,  beginning  with  the 
issue  of  its  circular,  in  predisposing  public 
opinion  to  the  idea  of  settlement  by  consent  which 
was  later  to  fructify  in  the  Convention  can  scarcely 
be  over-estimated. 

It  was  to  be  some  months,  however,  before  the 
Convention  idea  took  formal  shape.  In  the  mean- 
time the  political  history  of  Ireland  is  largely  the 
history  of  the  growth  and  development  of  the 
opposing  Sin7i  Fein  idea,  which,  by  a  reflex  action, 
was  finally  to  become  the  most  powerful  contribu- 
tory cause  among  the  influences  making  for  the 
Convention  policy.  It  soon  became  apparent  after 
the  release  of  the  interned  prisoners  that  what  may 
be  described  as  the  sentiment,  the  emotion,  of  Sinn 
Fein  was  gradually  being  canalised  in  a  policy. 
Mr.  Arthur  Griffith  soon  resumed  the  publication 
of  Nationality  in  advocacy  of  the  practical 
"  Hungarian  ''  plan  of  abstention  from  Parliament 
and  passive  resistance  to  Imperial  authority  in 
Ireland.  Sinn  Fein  clubs  began  to  appear  up  and 
down  the  country,  and  there  was  evidence  of  wide- 
spread propaganda   and    organisation   work,    on 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        27 

political  as  distinct  from  the  military  lines  on 
which  the  Irish  Volunteers  had  proceeded  before 
the  Rebellion.  The  question  of  recruiting  re- 
mained in  the  foreground  of  Irish  affairs  during 
this  period.  The  Irish  Unionist  Party  continued 
to  urge  conscription.  In  January,  1917,  the  Irish 
Canadian  Rangers  (Duchess  of  Connaught's  Own) 
Battalion  on  its  way  from  Canada  to  the  front  was 
brought  to  Ireland  and  toured  the  country  in  the 
interests  of  voluntary  recruiting;  it  was  every- 
where received,  if  without  great  enthusiasm  in 
some  places,  at  least  nowhere  with  overt  hostility. 
The  introduction  of  the  (voluntary)  National  Ser- 
vice Bill,  which  applied  to  Ireland  despite  the  pro- 
tests of  the  Nationalist  Party,  was  widely  regarded 
as  the  "  thin  end  of  the  wedge,"  and  increased 
the  tension  in  Ireland  over  the  conscription 
question. 

The  first  opportunity  for  Sinn  Fein  to  show  its 
strength  came  early  in  1917.  A  vacancy  occurred 
in  the  Parliamentary  representation  of  North  Ros- 
common, and  Count  Plunkett,  father  of  one  of  the 
executed  signatories  of  the  Irish  Republican  Pro- 
clamation of  Easter,  1916,  was  put  forward  as 
Sinn  Fein  candidate.  His  opponents  were  Mr. 
T.  J.  Devine,  a  well-known  local  man,  who  stood  as 
the  official  Nationalist  candidate,  and  was  sup- 
ported by  the  Parliamentary  Party's  organisa- 
tions; and  Mr.  Jasper  TuUy,  a  local  newspaper 
owner,  who  stood  as  an  Independent  Nationalist. 
The  result  of  the  poll  was  declared  on  February 
5th.  Count  Plunkett  headed  it  with  3,022  votes — 
a  clear  majority  over  both  of  his  opponents,  of 
whom  Mr.  Devine  obtained  1,708  votes  and  Mr. 
Tully  687.  The  result  of  the  election  came  as  8 
great  surprise  to  the  public,  but  it  was  not  gener- 
ally accepted  as  a  true  test  of  the  strength  of  Sinn 
Fein  as  an  active  force  in  Irish  politics.  The 
election  presented  some  curious  features.     It  was 


28    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

fought  in  deep  snow,  with  drifts  blocking  the 
roads  and  preventing  the  canvassing  and  polling 
of  many  of  the  voters  in  the  districts  where  the 
chief  strength  of  the  Parliamentary  Party  was 
supposed  to  lie.  It  was  in  this  election  that  Sinn 
Fein  tendencies  among  the  younger  Roman 
Catholic  Priesthood  first  became  apparent.  The 
main  driving  force  behind  Count  Plunkett  was  the 
Reverend  Michael  O'Flanagan,  Curate  of  Crosna. 
Father  OTlanagan  had  first  come  into  public 
notice  at  the  great  public  funeral  given  to 
O'Donovan  Rossa,  the  Fenian,  in  Dublin,  where 
he  delivered  the  Address.  An  eye-witness  of  the 
election  wrote  of  Father  O'Flanagan  that  "  for 
twelve  days  and  nights  he  was  up  and  down  the  con- 
stituency, going  like  a  whirlwind  and  talking  in 
impassioned  language  to  the  people  at  every  village 
and  street-corner  and  cross-roads  where  he  could 
get  people  to  listen  to  him." 

Father  O'Flanagan  was  supported  by  men  from 
Dublin,  Cork  and  Limerick,  released  only  a  few 
weeks  before  from  the  internment  camps  in  North 
Wales.  The  burden  of  all  his  election  speeches 
was  the  same.  He  argued  that  conscription 
would  have  been  applied  to  Ireland  the  year  before 
but  for  the  rising  of  Easter  week.  Count  Plunkett's 
son  had  been  shot  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the 
Rebellion,  and  two  more  of  his  sons  were  serving 
Courts-Martial  sentences  of  penal  servitude.  By 
voting  for  Plunkett  the  men  of  North  Roscommon 
would  be  warding  off  conscription  from  Ireland. 
In  these  circumstances  it  was  argued  that  Count 
Plunkett  won  North  Roscommon  on  the  anti-con- 
scription cry  together  with  his  personal  appeal  to 
popular  sentiment,  and  that  the  election  could  not 
be  regarded  as  a  positive  endorsement  of  Sinn  Fein 
policy.  This  reading  of  the  event,  whatever  its 
validity  at  the  time,  and  subsequent  events  seemed 
largely  to  disprove  it,  was  widely  held  immediately 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        29 

after  the  election.  Count  Plunkett  was  given  an 
enthusiastic  reception  on  his  return  to  Dublin 
after  the  declaration  of  the  poll,  and  lost  no  time 
in  making  his  position  clear.  In  his  speech  he 
declared  that  Roscommon  had  struck  a  blow 
against  the  false  theory  of  national  liberty,  of 
sending  Irish  representatives  to  a  foreign  Parlia- 
ment. It  would  be  necessary  to  carry  on  a  system- 
atic organisation  from  day  to  day  until  the  whole 
of  Ireland's  representatives  were  pledged  to  re- 
main in  Ireland — until  Ireland  had  a  body  of  re- 
presentatives who  were  the  virtual  Parliament  of  a 
free  people.  Count  Plunkett,  therefore,  enjoyed  the 
distinction  of  being  the  first  chosen  representative 
of  the  Sinn  Fein  creed  of  abstention  and  passive 
resistance,  which  for  years  before  the  Rebellion 
Mr.  Arthur  Griffith  had  preached  in  the 
wilderness. 

The  excitement  of  his  election  had  scarcely  died 
away  when  an  event  of  a  very  different  character 
raised  it  to  fever  pitch.  North  Roscommon,  what- 
ever else  it  did  not  prove,  had  at  least  seemed  to 
show  that  Sinn  Fein  in  its  new  development  was 
"  constitutional,''  and  that  the  physical  force  idea 
had  been  discarded.  At  >the  end  of  February, 
however,  a  number  of  arrests  were  suddenly  made 
in  Dublin  and  throughout  the  provinces  under 
Regulation  53  of  the  Defence  of  the  Realm  Regula- 
tions, which  empowered  the  arrest  of  any  person 
"  whose  behaviour  is  of  such  a  nature  as  to  give 
reasonable  grounds  for  suspecting  that  he  has 
acted,  or  is  acting,  or  about  to  act  in  a  manner 
prejudicial  to  the  public  safety  or  toi  the  defence 
of  the  realm."  The  arrests  were  ordered  by  the 
General  Officer  Commanding-in-Chief  in  Ireland, 
and  the  persons  concerned — twenty-eight  in  all, 
some  of  them  lately  interned,  others  hitherto  un- 
touched, including  some  prominent  Gaelic 
Leaguers — were  prohibited  from  residing  in  Ire- 


30    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

land  and  given  free  choice  of  their  place  of 
residence  in  England.  The  arrests  were  under- 
stood to  be  related  to  a  renewed  attempt  to  run 
arms  on  the  West  Coast  of  Ireland,  and  to  effect 
a  test  mobilisation  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  in  con- 
nection with  it.  Challenged  to  justify  them  in  the 
House  of  Commons  by  Mr.  Dillon — who  suggested 
that  they  were  a  sign  of  a  change  of  policy  in 
Ireland,  and  said  that  for  the  past  year  and  a 
half  the  Government  had  been  manufacturing 
Sinn  Feiners  by  the  ten  thousand  until  it  had 
maddened  the  country,  and  the  Nationalist  Party 
were  between  the  devil  and  the  deep  sea — the  Chief 
Secretary  declared  that  the  action  of  the  Executive 
was  taken  with  regret  and  was  justified  by  absolute 
necessity;  some  of  these  men  were  "up  to  the  ears 
in  conspiracy."  Mr.  Duke  refused  to  state  the 
facts  within  the  knowledge  of  the  Administration 
which  made  the  arrests  necessary.  He  went  on  to 
say  that  five-sixths  of  the  men  released  from 
Frongoch  had  gone  back  to  their  business  and  were 
not  engaged  in  any  revolutionary  action ;  but  there 
was  a  minority — a  considerable  number — of  men 
who  from  the  day  the  Christmas  holidays  were 
over  had  devoted  themselves  to  the  endeavour  to 
revive  and  set  in  motion  the  conspiracy  which  had 
such  fatal  results  in  Easter  of  last  year.  He 
finished  by  declaring  that  "  in  face  of  all  the  facts 
and  in  face  of  a  ruthless,  unscrupulous  enemy, 
who  thought  he  had  gained  a  triumph  in  April,  and 
who  would  countenance  any  sinister  action,  I  as 
Chief  Secretary  came  to  the  conclusion  and  decided 
that  in  this  transaction,  although  there  can  be  no 
charge,  and  although  there  can  be  no  trial,  it  was 
essential  for  the  public  well-being  that  these  men 
should  not  continue  to  reside  in  Ireland  while 
things  in  Ireland  are  as  they  are." 

The  arrests  apparently  precipitated  open  conflict 
between  the  Nationalist  Party  and  the  Govern- 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        31 

ment.  On  March  7th  Mr.  T.  P.  O'Connor  moved 
a  resolution  to  the  effect  "  that,  with  a  view  to 
strengthening  the  hands  of  the  Allies  in  achieving 
the  recognition  of  the  equal  rights  of  small  nations 
and  the  principle  of  nationality  against  the 
opposite  German  principle  of  military  domination 
and  government  without  the  consent  of  the 
governed,  it  is  essential,  without  further  delay,  to 
confer  on  Ireland  the  free  institutions  long  pro- 
mised to  her."  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  in  his  reply, 
said  "  that  the  dominant  consideration  in  any  pre- 
sent settlement  must  be  its  effect  upon  the  conduct 
of  the  war.  There  must  be  no  attempt  at  settle- 
ment which  would  provoke  civil  disturbance.  The 
Government  were  prepared  to  confer  Self-Govern- 
ment  on  those  parts  of  Ireland  which  unmistak- 
ably demanded  it;  but  they  were  not  prepared  to 
coerce  the  North-East  portion  of  Ireland."  He 
moved  an  amendment  welcoming  any  settlement 
which  would  conduce  to  a  better  understanding 
between  Ireland  and  the  rest  of  the  United  King- 
dom, but  declaring  it  impossible  to  impose  by  force 
on  any  part  of  Ireland  a  form  of  government  which 
had  not  its  consent.  Mr.  Redmond  solemnly  pro- 
tested against  the  Prime  Minister's  statement.  He 
asked  whether  the  Ulster  minority  were  to  have 
power  over  the  majority  for  ever.  The  Prime 
Minister's  statement,  he  said,  would  play  right 
into  the  hands  of  those  who  were  trying  to  destroy 
the  Constitutional  Movement.  He  agreed  that  the 
condition  of  Ireland  was  very  serious,  that  there 
were  able  men  in  Ireland  with  command  of  money 
\^ho  were  bent  on  smashing  the  Constitutional 
Movement.  "  If  the  Constitutional  Movement  in 
Ireland  disappears,"  declared  Mr.  Redmond,  "  the 
Prime  Minister  will  find  himself  face  to  face  with 
the  Revolutionary  Movement,  and  he  will  have  to 
govern  Ireland  with  the  naked  sword."  Finally 
he  called  upon  his  colleagues  to  withdraw,  and  the 


32    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

Nationalist  Party  in  a  body  thereupon  marched 
out  of  the  House. 

Subsequently  the  Party  drafted  and  issued  a 
Manifesto  to  the  United  States  and  the  Dominions. 
It  declared  that  "  the  action  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment since  the  formation  of  the  Coalition  in  May, 
1915,  culminating  in  the  speech  of  the  Prime 
Minister  last  night,  has  made  the  task  of  carrying 
on  a  Constitutional  Movement  in  Ireland  so  diffi- 
cult as  to  be  almost  impossible."  It  described  Mr. 
Lloyd  George's  speech  as  taking  up  a  position, 
which,  if  adhered  to,  would  involve  the  denial  of 
Self  Government  to  Ireland  for  ever.  It  concluded 
in  these  words  : — "  To  the  men  of  Irish  blood  in  the 
Dominions  and  the  United  States  of  America  we 
appeal  that  they  should  bring  pressure  on  the 
British  Government  to  act  towards  Ireland  in 
accordance  with  the  principles  for  which  they  are 
fighting  in  Europe,  and  we  specially  appeal  to  the 
American  people  to  urge  upon  the  British  Govern- 
ment the  duty  of  applying  the  great  principles 
so  clearly  and  splendidly  enunciated  by  President 
Wilson  in  his  historical  Address  to  the  Senate  of 
America." 

The  United  States  were  at  this  time  just  enter- 
ing the  war,  and  the  Nationalist  Party's  strongly 
worded  appeal  to  Irish- Americans  was  calculated 
very  gravely  to  embarrass  the  action  of  President 
Wilson.  This  was  doubtless  not  the  least  cogent 
of  the  considerations  which  impelled  the  Govern- 
ment on  March  22nd  to  announce,  through  the 
mouth  of  Mr.  Bonar  Law,  that  it  had  decided  to 
make,  on  its  own  responsibility,  another  attempt  at 
an  Irish  settlement.  It  was  apparent  that  no 
definite  policy  to  this  end  had  yet  been  determined. 
Mr.  Bonar  Law  said  that  if  the  attempt  again 
failed  the  position  would  be  worse  than  before. 
"  But  we  have  decided  that,  in  spite  of  the  risks,  it 
is  worth  while  for  us,  on  our  own  responsibility,  in 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        33 

some  way  or  other  to  make  another  attempt."  He 
reminded  the  House  of  the  diflBculties,  and  pleaded 
"  for  a  little  time." 

Almost  simultaneously  Sinn  Fein  had  made  a 
forward  movement.  Count  Plunkett  addressed 
a  circular  letter  to  the  public  bodies  throughout 
Ireland  inviting  them  to  nominate  delegates  to 
attend  a  conference  to  be  held  in  the  Mansion 
House,  Dublin,  on  April  19th.  In  this  document 
he  stated  that  he  had  been  returned  by  North  Ros- 
common to  recognise  no  foreign  authority  in  Ire- 
land, to  maintain  the  right  of  Ireland  to  inde- 
pendence, and  to  initiate  Ireland's  work  of  taking 
control  of  her  own  affairs.  To  bring  that  afl&rma- 
tion  of  the  national  faith  and  national  will  to  a 
practical  issue  it  was  necessary  to  organise  the 
whole  country.  Ireland  should  at  once  establish 
her  own  council.  The  first  of  its  duties  would  be 
to  address  itself  to  the  Peace  Conference  with  a 
view  to  obtaining  the  support  of  the  nations  which 
would  be  represented  there.  This  assembly  would 
claim  the  recognition  of  the  sovereign  status  of 
Ireland.  The  circular  asked  every  public  body  to 
give  its  adhesion  to  the  principles  and  methods  of 
the  movement  indicated,  and  to  appoint  two  dele- 
gates to  take  part  in  the  conference.  The  recep- 
tion of  the  letter  could  give  no  trustworthy  indica- 
tion of  the  support  which  the  Sinn  Fein  policy 
enjoyed  in  the  country,  in  view  of  the  fact  that, 
ovving  to  the  suspension  of  elections,  the  public 
bodies  had  largely  ceased  to  be  representative.  In 
some  places  Count  Plunkett's  letter  was  burned; 
in  many  it  was  simply  marked  "  read."  Neverthe- 
less a  sufficient  number  of  public  bodies  appointed 
delegates  to  invest  the  proceedings  of  the  first 
Sinn  Fein  Convention  with  some  authority. 

It  was  held  some  ten  days  after  the  Easter  Mon- 
day which  marked  the  first  anniversary  of  the 
outbreak    of     the     Rebellion     in     Dublin.     The 


34    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

anniversary  was  attended  by  a  good  deal  of  excite- 
ment in  the  capital  and  throughout  the  country. 
As  a  measure  of  precaution  assembly  and  proces- 
sion were  forbidden  in  Dublin  by  the  Commander- 
in-Chief,  Sir  Bryan  Mahon.  On  the  morning  of 
Easter  Monday  it  was  observed  that  some  daring 
spirits  during  the  night  had  scaled  the  ruins  of 
the  General  Post  Office  in  Sackville  Street,  the 
Sinn  Fein  headquarters  during  the  rising,  and  run 
up  half-mast  on  the  flag-staff  the  Republican  tri- 
colour, which  was  also  displayed  from  the  build- 
ings occupied  during  the  rising.  During  the 
afternoon  and  evening  some  rioting  occurred, 
though  not  of  a  serious  character.  In  Cork  and 
elsewhere  demonstrations  were  attended  by  some 
disorder.  On  April  19th  the  Sinn  Fein  Conven- 
tion met  and  between  five  and  six  hundred  dele- 
gates assembled  from  elective  bodies,  labour  organ- 
isations, and  Sinn  Fein  clubs,  including  about  a 
hundred  priests.  The  Convention  endorsed  the 
following  declarations  : — "  (1)  That  we  proclaim 
Ireland  to  be  a  separate  nation.  (2)  That  we  assert 
Ireland's  right  to  freedom  from  all  foreign  con- 
trol, denying  the  authority  of  any  foreign 
Parliament  to  make  laws  for  Ireland.  (3)  That 
we  affirm  the  right  of  the  Irish  people 
to  declare  their  will  as  law  and  enforce 
their  decisions  in  their  own  land  without  let  or 
hindrance  from  any  other  country.  (4)  That, 
maintaining  the  status  of  Ireland,  we  demand  re- 
presentation at  the  coming  Peace  Conference. 
(5)  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  nations  taking 
part  in  the  Peace  Conference  to  guarantee  the 
liberty  of  the  nations  calling  for  their  interven- 
tion  and  the  releasing  of  the  small  nations  from 
control  of  the  greater  Powers.  (6)  That  our  claim 
to  complete  independence  is  founded  on  human 
right  and  the  law  of  nations.  (7)  That  we  declare 
that  Ireland  has  never  yielded  to,  but  has  always 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        35 

fought  against,  foreign  rule.  (8)  That  we  here- 
by bind  ourselves  to  use  every  means  in  our  power 
to  attain  complete  liberty  for  our  country."  After 
these  declarations  steps  were  taken  to  effect  a 
national  organisation  "to  unite  Irish  advanced 
opinion  and  provide  for  action  as  a  result  of  its 
conclusion."  An  Organising  Committee  was 
appointed  of  nine  members,  including  Count  and 
Countess  Plunkett,  Mr.  Arthur  Griffith,  Father 
O'Flanagan,  and  Mr.  William  O'Brien,  President 
of  the  Dublin  Trades  Council,  and  the  Convention 
then  adjourned  to  be  called  together  again  as 
occasion  might  require. 

Ireland  now  awaited  the  disclosure  of  the 
Government's  scheme  of  settlement.  Even  Sinn 
Fein,  after  the  definition  of  its  position  at  the 
Convention,  contented  itself  with  a  waiting 
attitude.  The  Goverument's  statement,  despite 
energetic  Nationalist  pressure  in  Parliament,  was 
repeatedly  postponed.  It  was,  in  fact,  not  forth- 
coming until  May  16th,  Meanwhile  rumours  as  to 
the  Government's  intentions  began  to  circulate  in 
Ireland.  As  the  Government  continued  its  sound- 
ings of  the  situation  with  the  object  of  framing  a 
policy,  it  was  asserted  with  ever  greater  emphasis 
and  particularity  that  its  plan  would  ultimately 
take  the  form  of  the  revival  of  the  discredited 
"partition"  scheme,  this  time  in  the  shape  of  a 
system  of  county  option,  which  would  permit 
counties  to  vote  themselves  out  of  the  operation  of 
the  Home  Rule  Act.  These  were  the  circumstances 
in  which,  early  in  May,  a  remarkable  document 
appeared  in  the  Irish  Press  addressed  to  the  people 
of  Ireland.  It  was  signed  by  Cardinal  Logue  and 
Archbishop  Walsh  of  Dublin,  sixteen  other  Roman 
Catholic  Bishops,  and  three  Protestant  Bishops — 
those  of  Tuam,  Ossory  and  Killaloe.  Such 
collaboration  between  the  bishops  of  the  two 
Churches  was  quite  unprecedented  in  the  political 


36    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

history  of  Ireland.  The  Bishops'  Manifesto  de- 
clared that,  while  of  sectional  and  individual 
protests  against  the  dismemberment  of  Ireland 
there  had  been  an  immense  volume,  "  there  is  still 
wanting  the  national  muster-roll  of  adherents  to 
the  principle  of  an  Ireland  one  and  undivided." 
It  proceeded  : — "  We  appeal  to  the  people  without 
distinction,  religious  or  political,  and  we  ask  all 
who  are  opposed  to  partition,  temporary  or  per- 
manent, to  send  their  names.  .  .  .  Our  requisi- 
tion needs  no  urging.  An  appeal  to  the  national 
conscience  on  the  question  of  Ireland's  dis- 
memberment should  meet  with  one  answer  and  one 
answer  alone.  To  Irishmen  of  every  creed  and  class 
and  party  the  very  thought  of  our  country  parti- 
tioned and  torn,  as  a  new  Poland,  must  be  one  of 
heart-rending  sorrow.  In  asking  these  names  we 
have  no  ulterior  object  in  view,  and  we  give  an 
assurance  that  they  shall  oe  used  only  to  show  to 
the  Government  and  to  the  world  that  the  country 
is  unrelentingly  opposed  to  partition." 

The  next  development  was  a  letter  from  Arch- 
bishop Walsh  which  appeared  in  the  Nationalist 
evening  papers  on  May  8th.  In  it  he  said  that  the 
question  might  be  asked  why  a  number  of  Irish 
Bishops,  Catholic  and  Protestant,  had  thought  it 
worth  while  to  sign  a  protest  against  the  partition 
of  Ireland.  "  Has  not  that  miserable  policy,  con- 
demned as  it  has  been  by  the  all  but  unanimous 
voice  of  Nationalist  Ireland,  been  removed  months 
ago  from  the  sphere  of  practical  politics  ?  Nothing 
of  the  kind.  Anyone  who  thinks  that  partition 
whether  in  its  naked  deformity  or  under  the  trans- 
parent mask  of  "  County  Option,"  does  not  hold  a 
leading  place  in  the  practical  politics  of  to-day  is 
simply  living  in  a  fool's  paradise."  In  a  character- 
istic postscript  the  Archbishop  added  : —  "I  think 
it  a  duty  to  write  this,  although  from  information 
that  has  just  reached  me  I  am  fairly  satisfied  that 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        37 

the  mischief  has  already  been  done,  and  that  the 
country  is  practically  sold." 

This  letter  of  the  Archbishop's,  with  its  engaging 
postscript,  acquired  a  peculiar  significance  from 
the  fact  that  it  was  published  on  the  eve  of  the 
polling  day  in  the  South  Longford  election.  It  was 
everywhere  recognised  that  this  election  was  of 
greater  importance  than  the  earlier  trial  of 
strength  between  the  Nationalist  Party  and  Sinn 
Fein  in  North  Roscommon.  The  contest  was  a 
straight  fight  between  the  two  parties;  the 
Nationalists  were  represented  by  Mr.  Patrick 
McKenna,  while  the  Sinn  Feiners  had  selected  as 
their  candidate  Mr.  J.  P.  McGuinness,  a  local  man 
who  was  serving  a  Court-Martial  sentence  of 
penal  servitude  in  connection  with  the  Rebellion. 
The  Nationalist  strength  in  the  constituency  was 
known  to  be  great,  and  the  Sinn  Feiners  freely 
declared  that  if  they  could  carry  South  Longford 
they  could  carry  any  seat  in  Ireland.  The  Nation- 
alist leaders,  Mr.  Dillon  and  Mr.  Devlin,  inter- 
vened in  person  on  behalf  of  Mr.  McKenna,  in 
whose  support  the  whole  force  of  the  Nationalist 
organisation  was  concentrated  in  the  constituency. 
The  Sinn  Feiners  received  unexpected  aid  at  the 
last  moment  from  the  arrival  of  four  of  the  men, 
including  Mr.  Darrell  Figgis,  who  had  been  de- 
ported some  weeks  earlier,  and  had  returned  to 
Ireland  secretly  in  defiance  of  the  order  prohibit- 
ing their  presence  in  the  country.  Mr.  Dillon 
admitted  the  gravity  of  the  issue,  which  he  de- 
clared was  now  clear,  as  it  had  not  been  in  North 
Roscommon.  "  South  Longford  was  faced  with  a 
clear  political  issue  of  the  most  far-reaching  im- 
portance." 

It  was  doubtful,  however,  whether  the  election 
could  in  fact  be  regarded  as  a  clear  issue  between 
the  Constitutional  Movement  and  the  Sinn  Fein 
policy,  which,  indeed,  at  the  time  was  still  rather 


38    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

a  mere  assertion  of  a  political  principle  than  a 
coherent  policy.     The  Sinn   Feiners   themselves, 
whose    organisation    in    the    constituency    was 
singularly  energetic  and  eflBcient,  did  not  rely  in 
any    considerable    degree   upon    appeals    on    the 
academic  question  of  constitutionalism  versus  re- 
publicanism.    They  fought  the  contest  rather  on 
"  live  "  issues  of  immediate  practical  politics.  The 
imprisonment  of  their  candidate  was  turned  to 
account :   "  put  McGuinness  in  to  get  him  out," 
was    the   device   emblazoned   on  their   numerous 
motor  cars.  The  conscription  cry  was  used  with  as 
good  effect  as  in  North  Roscommon.  Finally,  most 
effective  use  was   made   of   Archbishop  Walsh's 
letter  with  its  declaration  that  the  country  was 
*'  practically  sold  "  into  partition,  and  copies  of  it 
were  lavishly  distributed  at  every  polling  booth. 
The  result  of  the  polling,  declared  on  May  10th, 
showed  that  the  Sinn  Fein  candidate  had  won  by 
the  narrow  majority  of  thirty-seven  votes.     The 
result  of  the  election  was,  admittedly  by  both  sides, 
doubtful  up  to  the  very  last  moment.    There  could 
be    no    question    that    it    was    decided    in    Mr. 
McGuinness's    favour    by    Archbishop     Walsh's 
letter.     Whatever  other  moral  might  be  drawn 
from  the  election,  therefore,  it  was  an  unmistak- 
able endorsement  of  the  Bishop's  appeal  to  the 
country  in  their  Manifesto  to  show  itself  "unre- 
lentingly opposed  to  partition."    The  result  of  the 
election  determined  absolutely  the  reception  which 
the  Government's  plan  of  settlement,  published  less 
than  a  week  later,  on  May  16th,  was  bound  to  meet 
at  the  hands  of  the  Nationalist  Party. 

It  was  contained  in  a  circular  letter  addressed 
by  Mr.  Lloyd  George  to  Mr.  John  Redmond,  Sir 
John  Lonsdale  (Ulster  Unionist  Party),  Mr. 
William  O'Brien  (All-for-Ireland  Party),  and 
Viscount  Midleton  (for  the  Unionists  of  the 
South  and  West).   The  Prime  Minister  wrote  that 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        39 

the  Government  approached  t^he  subject  "  with  a 
deep  desire  to  put  an  end  to  a  state  of  affairs  which 
is  productive  of  immense  evil,  not  only  to  Ireland, 
but  to  Great  Britain  and  the  Empire."  He  went 
on  to  say  that  any  settlement  proposed  during  the 
war  must  be  one  which  would  be  substantially 
accepted  by  both  sides,  and  that  therefore  "  the 
idea  of  the  Government  has  been  to  try  to  effect 
an  immediate  settlement  conceding  the  largest 
possible  measure  of  Home  Rule  which  can  be 
secured  by  agreement  at  this  moment,  without  pre- 
judice to  the  undertaking  by  Parliament  of  a 
further  and  final  settlement  of  the  questions  most 
in  dispute  after  the  war."  The  Government's  pro- 
posals to  this  end,  which  were  at  once  found  un- 
acceptable, need  not  be  recorded  at  length.  Briefly, 
they  contemplated  the  immediate  application  of 
the  Home  Rule  Act  to  Ireland,  excluding  the  six 
north-eastern  counties  of  Ulster,  this  arrangement 
to  be  subject  to  reconsideration  by  Parliament  at 
the  end  of  five  years ;  in  the  meantime  the  establish- 
ment of  a  Council  of  Ireland,  composed  of  the 
members  of  Parliament  of  the  excluded  area  and 
an  equal  delegation  from  the  Irish  Parliament, 
with  powers  to  pass  legislation  affecting  the  whole 
of  Ireland ;  and  a  reconsideration  of  the  financial 
clauses  of  the  Act. 

After  setting  forth  this  scheme  the  Prime 
Minister,  in  resort  as  it  were  to  an  expedient 
almost  of  desperation,  proposed  the  Convention 
plan.  "  There  remains  an  alternative  plan  which, 
though  it  has  been  sometimes  seriously  discussed, 
has  never  been  authoritatively  proposed — that  of 
assembling  a  Convention  of  Irishmen  of  all  parties 
for  the  purpose  of  providing  a  scheme  of  Irish 
Self-Government.  As  you  will  remember,  the 
Constitution  of  the  Union  of  South  Africa  was 
passed,  despite  most  formidable  difficulties  and 
obstacles,  by  a  Convention  representative  of  all 


40    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

the  interests  and  parties  in  the  country,  and  the 
Government  believes  that  a  similar  expedient 
might,  in  the  last  resort,  be  found  effectual  in  Ire- 
land. Would  it  be  too  much  to  hope  that  Irishmen 
of  all  creeds  and  parties  might  meet  together  in  a 
Convention  for  the  purpose  of  drafting  a  Constitu- 
tion for  their  country  which  should  secure  a  just 
balance  of  all  the  opposing  interests,  and  finally 
compose  the  unhappy  discords  which  have  so  long 
disturbed  Ireland  and  impeded  its  harmonious 
development?  The  Government  is  ready,  in 
default  of  the  adoption  of  its  proposals  for  Home 
Rule,  to  take  the  necessary  steps  for  the  assembling 
of  such  a  Convention/' 

Mr.  Redmond,  in  his  reply,  at  once  rejected  the 
Government's  scheme  and  welcomed  the  alternative 
proposal  of  a  Convention.  Observing  that  he  could 
not  accept  the  proposition  that  the  Government 
was  limited  to  proposing  a  settlement  "which 
would  be  substantially  accepted  by  both  sides,"  he 
said  that  he  and  his  Party  had  carefully  con- 
sidered the  two  alternative  proposals  contained  in 
the  Prime  Minister's  letter,  and  that  "  the  first 
proposal  would,  in  their  opinion,  find  no  support 
in  Ireland,  and  they  desire  me  to  inform  you  they 
are  irreconcilably  opposed  to  this  scheme,  and  that 
any  measure  based  on  it  will  meet  with  their 
vigorous  opposition."  The  alternative  of  a  Con- 
vention Mr.  Redmond  described  as  having  "  much 
to  commend  it."  "  We  are  prepared  to  recommend 
this  proposal  most  earnestly  to  our  countrymen, 
on  condition  that  the  basis  on  which  the  Conven- 
tion is  to  be  called  is  such  as  to  secure  that 
it  will  be  fully  and  fairly  representative  of  Irish- 
men of  all  creeds,  interests,  and  parties,  and, 
secondly,  that  the  Convention  be  summoned  with- 
out delay.  If  this  proposal  is  put  into  operation 
I  can  assure  you  that  no  effort  on  the  part  of  my 
colleagues  and  myself  will  be  spared  to  realise  the 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        41 

high  and  blessed  ideal  pointed  to  in  the  concluding 
paragraph  of  your  letter/'  Viscount  Midleton, 
on  behalf  of  the  Southern  Unionists,  rejected  the 
partition  scheme  and  undertook  to  recommend  the 
acceptance  of  the  Convention  plan  on  condition 
that  it  was  fully  representative  and  that  its  re- 
commendations were  subject  to  review  by  Parlia- 
ment. The  Irish  Unionist  Alliance  subsequently 
ratified  his  acceptance.  Mr.  William  O'Brien  in  his 
reply  to  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  rejected  the  partition 
scheme  and  welcomed  the  proposal  of  a  Conven- 
tion as  giving  effect  to  "  a  principle  we  have  so 
long  contended  for."  Subsequently,  however,  he 
refused  to  agree  to  the  constitution  of  the  Conven- 
tion, and  the  All-for-Ireland  Party  took  no  part 
in  it. 

Sir  John  Lonsdale,  on  behalf  of  the  Ulster 
Unionist  Party,  after  restating  the  Ulster  Unionist 
case  in  his  reply,  said  that  his  Party  would  re- 
commend the  Government's  proposals  for  careful 
consideration  to  the  Ulster  Unionist  Council. 
That  body  did  not  meet  until  June  8th,  when  it 
was  addressed  in  private  by  Sir  Edward  Carson. 
It  then  passed  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  "  being 
largely  influenced  by  the  representations  which 
have  been  made  to  us  by  the  Government  that  an 
agreement  on  the  Irish  question  would  materially 
help  in  the  prosecution  of  the  war  to  a  victorious 
conclusion,  and  relying  on  the  assurances  of  the 
Government,  that  every  form  of  proposal  will  be 
open  for  consideration  at  the  Irish  Convention, 
that  in  the  event  of  no  agreement  being  come  to 
no  party  will  be  bound  or  committed  in  any  way  by 
the  proceedings  of  the  Convention,  and  that  no 
scheme  will  be  forced  upon  the  Ulster  Unionists 
with  which  their  representatives  are  not  in  agree- 
ment— (we)  hereby  accede  to  the  Government's  in- 
vitation that  representatives  should  be  sent  to 
the  Convention."     A  Committee  of  the  Council 


42    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

was  appointed  which,  besides  advising  on  the 
selection  of  representatives  and  recommending 
names  for  the  consideration  of  the  Government 
as  nominated  members,  was  further  empowered 
*'  from  time  to  time  during  the  holding  of  the  Con- 
vention to  take  counsel  with  the  representatives  of 
the  Ulster  Party  at  the  Convention."  No  such 
limitation  upon  the  plenipotentiary  powers  of  its 
representatives  was  imposed  by  any  other  party. 
All  other  representatives  entered  the  Convention 
as  free  agents;  the  representatives  of  the  Ulster 
Unionist  Party  alone  were  limited  in  their  freedom 
of  action  in  the  Convention  by  the  condition  of 
having  to  refer  to  the  Committee  of  the  Ulster 
Unionist  Council. 

The  attitude  of  Sinn  Fein  towards  the  Conven- 
tion was  semi-officially  defined  in  the  first  instance 
by  Count  Plunkett.  He  declared  that  the  Conven- 
tion could  not  be  a  free  and  representative  gather- 
ing, for,  without  a  new  register  and  a  general 
election,  neither  the  Nationalist  Party  nor  the 
elected  Councils  had  any  claim  to  speak  for  the 
people.  Even  if  a  majority  of  the  Convention 
demanded  complete  freedom,  it  would  be  put  out 
of  court,  since  no  scheme  would  be  officially  re- 
cognised unless  it  kept  Ireland  "  within  the 
Empire,"  and  maintained  the  supremacy  of  the 
English  Parliament.  The  Sinn  Fein  Party  would 
turn  to  the  Peace  Conference,  and  to  their  own 
resolves,  for  liberty.  At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive 
of  the  National  Council  of  Sinn  Fein,  held  on  May 
22nd,  it  was  unanimously  resolved  that  Sinn  Fein 
should  decline  to  participate  "  in  any  Convention 
called  by  the  English  Government  in  Ireland, 
ostensibly  to  settle  the  Irish  question,  unless  (1) 
The  terms  of  reference  to  such  a  Convention  left 
it  free  to  decree  the  complete  independence  of 
Ireland;  (2)  the  English  Government  publicly 
pledged  itself  to  the  United  States  and  the  Powers 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        43 

of  Europe  to  ratify  the  decision  of  the  majority 
of  the  Convention;  (3)  the  Convention  consists 
of  none  but  persons  freely  elected  by  adult  suffrage 
in  Ireland;  (4)  prisoners  of  war  treatment  v^as 
accorded  to  the  Irish  prisoners  at  Lewes  and 
Aylesbury."  At  this  meeting  Mr.  Arthur  Griffith, 
President  of  Sinn  Fein,  said  that  by  its  pledge  to 
the  Ulster  Unionists  not  to  force  them  to  accept 
the  decision  of  the  majority  of  their  countrymen 
the  failure  of  the  Convention  was  secured  before- 
hand by  the  English  Government,  which  would 
then  be  enabled  to  say  to  the  United  States  and  to 
the  Powers  of  Europe  that  England  had  left  the 
Irish  question  to  the  Irish  themselves  and  that  the 
Irish  had  failed  to  find  a  solution.  This  was 
England's  plan  to  obstruct  Ireland's  appeal  to  the 
Peace  Conference.  The  Dublin  Trades'  Council 
adopted  the  same  attitude  towards  the  Convention 
as  Sinn  Fein. 

The  Prime  Minister,  however,  had  awaited  no 
party's  formal  definition  of  its  .lattitude  before 
proceeding  with  the  summoning  of  the  Conven- 
tion. On  May  21st  he  announced  that  the  Govern- 
ment proposed  "  to  summon  immediately,  on  be- 
half of  the  Crown,  a  Convention  of  representative 
Irishmen,  in  Ireland,  to  submit  to  the  British 
Government  and  to  the  British  Parliament  a 
Constitution  for  the  future  government  of  Ire- 
land within  the  Empire."  He  went  on  to  say  that 
the  Convention  must  be  representative  of  all  lead- 
ing interests,  classes,  creeds  and  phases  of  thought 
in  Ireland — not  a  Convention  merely  of  political 
parties,  though  all  these  must  necessarily  be  re- 
presented, including,  he  hoped,  Sinn  Fein.  "  In  the 
main  the  view  of  the  Government  is  that  it  ought 
to  consist  of  representatives  of  the  local 
governing  bodies,  the  Churches,  the  trade  unions, 
the  commercial  interests,  the  educated  interests — 
in  fact  a  real  representation  of  Irish  life,  thought, 


44    THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

and  activity  in  all  the  leading  aspects."  So  far 
as  possible  the  Government  would  invite  delegates 
to  be  chosen  by  the  bodies  whom  they  represented. 
Recognising,  however,  that  it  would  be  desirable 
to  have  Irish  interests  represented  which  might 
not  be  chosen  by  any  of  these  categories,  the 
Government  proposed  to  nominate  members  to 
secure  that  every  element  of  Irish  opinion  was  pre- 
sent. It  was  suggested  that  the  Chairman  should  be 
nominated  by  the  Crown,  but  this  course  was 
afterwards  abandoned  in  favour  of  that  of  allow- 
ing the  Convention  to  elect  its  own  Chairman.  Mr. 
Lloyd  George  next  made  it  clear  that  no  proposal 
on  any  side  for  the  better  government  of  Ireland 
could  be  shut  out  from  discussion,  and  that  no  one, 
by  the  mere  fact  of  going  into  the  Convention, 
could  be  assumed  to  be  pledged  to  the  acceptance 
or  rejection  of  any  particular  proposal  or  method 
for  the  government  of  Ireland.  Finally,  on  behalf 
of  the  Government  he  gave  a  pledge  that  "  if  sub- 
stantial agreement  should  be  reached  as  to  the 
character  and  scope  of  the  Constitution  framed  by 
the  Convention  for  the  future  government  of  Ire- 
land within  the  Empire,  we  will  accept  the  re- 
sponsibility for  taking  all  the  necessary  steps  to 
enable  the  Imperial  Parliament  to  give  legislative 
effect  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Convention." 
He  added  a  promise  that,  so  far  as  the  financial 
aspect  was  concerned,  "  should  the  Convention 
happily  come  to  an  agreement,  we  will  not  forget 
that  restitution  and  reparation  should  begin  at 
home." 

While  negotiations  for  the  constitution  of  the 
Convention  on  the  basis  thus  outlined  by  the 
Prime  Minister  were  in  progress  an  unhappy  in- 
cident occurred  in  Dublin.  A  public  meeting  was 
called  in  Beresford  Place  on  Sunday,  June  10th, 
to  demand  the  release  of  the  Rebellion  prisoners. 
The  holding  of  this  meeting  was  prohibited  by  a 


OEIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        45 

Proclamation  issued  the  previous  day  by  Sir 
Bryan  Mahon.  Notwithstanding  this  prohibition 
a  large  crowd  assembled  when  Count  Plunkett 
and  a  companion  arrived  on  a  hackney  car  and 
attempted  to  address  the  audience  outside  Liberty 
Hall,  sometime  the  Headquarters  of  the  Citizen 
Army.  The  two  men  were  placed  under  arrest  by 
the  police  and  conveyed  to  an  adjoining  police 
station.  On  their  way  the  police  were  hustled  by 
the  crowd,  and  Inspector  Mills,  in  command  of 
the  police  force,  was  felled  from  behind  by  a 
hurley  stick,  and  died  during  the  night  as  a  result 
of  his  injuries.  The  vicinity  of  the  meeting  re- 
mained disturbed  for  some  hours.  Subsequently 
Count  Plunkett  was  removed  from  police  control 
by  the  military,  and  placed  in  Arbour  Hill 
barracks. 

On  the  day  after  this  affair  Mr.  Lloyd  George 
announced  that  the  constitution  of  the  Convention 
had  been  settled.  He  explained  that  the  total 
number  of  the  Convention  would  be  101 — an  un- 
wieldy number,  he  admitted,  but  it  was  impossible 
to  have  a  small  body  in  which  all  interests  would 
be  represented,  as  it  was  essential  they  should  be, 
if  an  agreement  was  to  secure  the  adhesion  of  the 
country.  Fifteen  members  would  be  nominated  by 
the  Crown;  thirty-three  would  be  Chairmen  of 
County  Councils,  and  six  Lord  Mayors  and 
Mayors  of  County  Boroughs — these,  in  Mr.  Lloyd 
George's  words,  to  represent  "  the  everyday  life  of 
the  country."  In  addition  the  Chairmen  of  the 
Urban  Councils  were  to  be  invited  to  select  two 
members  in  each  of  the  four  provinces — eight  in 
all.  The  Churches  were  to  be  represented  by  four 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Bishops,  the  Primate  and 
the  Archbishop  of  Dublin  for  the  Church  of  Ire- 
land, and  the  Moderator  of  the  General  Assembly 
for  the  Presbyterian  Church.  As  spokesmen  of 
commerce  the  Chairmen  of  the  Chambers  of  Com- 


46    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

merce  of  Dublin,  Belfast  and  Cork  were  to  be  in- 
vited, and  as  spokesmen  of  labour,  representatives 
of  the  Trade  Councils  in  Dublin  and  in  Cork  and 
of  Trades  Unions  in  Belfast — in  all  five  repre- 
sentatives of  labour.  For  the  direct  representa- 
tion of  organised  political  opinion  the  Nationalist 
Party,  the  Ulster  Unionist  Party,  and  the  Irish 
Unionist  Alliance,  for  the  Unionists  of  Southern 
Ireland,  w^ere  to  appoint  five  members  each,  and 
Mr.  O'Brien's  party  and  the  Irish  Eepresentative 
Peers  tvro  each.  Five  seats  v^ere  also  reserved  for 
Sinn  Fein,  In  accordance  with  the  resolutions 
passed  by  the  National  Executive,  Sinn  Fein  re- 
fused the  invitation  to  appoint  delegates.  The  same 
course  was  followed  by  Mr.  O'Brien's  AU-for-Ire- 
land  League,  and  the  Kerry  County  Council  also 
declined  to  permit  its  Chairman  to  attend.  These 
abstentions  reduced  the  complement  of  the  Conven- 
to  ninety-three.  Two  more  labour  representatives 
were  added  to  the  original  five,  so  that  the  Con- 
vention, as  finally  constituted,  numbered  ninety- 
five  members. 

In  announcing  the  constitution  of  the  Conven- 
tion the  Prime  Minister  referred  to  the  death  of 
Major  William  Redmond,  who  a  few  days  before 
had  been  killed  in  action  at  Messines.  "  We  all 
remember,"  Mr.  Lloyd  George  said,  "his  last 
appeal  to  us,  and  I  think  that,  now  that  this  Con- 
vention is  being  launched  on  its  career,  I  cannot 
do  better  than  read  his  words  : — '  While  English 
and  Irish  soldiers  are  dying  side  by  side  must  the 
eternal  conflict  between  the  two  nations  go  on  ?  In 
the  name  of  God,  we  here,  who  are,  perhaps,  about 
to  die,  ask  you  to  do  that  which  largely  induced  us 
to  leave  our  homes;  that  which  our  fathers  and 
mothers  taught  us  to  long  for;  that  which  is  all 
we  desire,  to  make  our  country  happy  and  con- 
tented and  enable  us  when  we  meet  Canadians, 
Australians,  or  New  Zealanders  side  by  side,  to 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        47 

say — Our  country,  just  as  your  country,  is  self- 
governing  within  the  Empire.' ''  The  Prime 
Minister  added  : — "  He  was  carried  tenderly  and 
reverently  from  the  battlefield  by  Ulster  soldiers 
in  an  Ulster  ambulance.  The  solemn  appeal  which 
I  have  read  comes  to  us  anew  from  an  honoured 
grave  on  the  frontier  of  the  land  he  gave  his  life 
to  liberate." 

The  death  of  Major  Redmond,  however,  was  to 
do  something  else  besides  provide  an  inspiration 
for  the  work  of  the  Convention.  It  was  to  provide 
the  occasion  for  the  event  which,  even  while  the 
Convention  was  assembling,  was  at  once  to  disclose 
the  full  strength  of  Sinn  Fein  in  the  country  and 
confirm  its  hold  on  the  popular  imagination — the 
East  Clare  election.  On  June  17th,  rather  more 
than  a  month  before  the  first  meeting  of  the  Con- 
vention, all  the  Rebellion  prisoners  serving  Court- 
Martial  /sentences  had  been  unconditionally  re- 
leased. Their  release  was  announced  by  Mr.  Bonar 
Law  in  the  House  of  Commons  two  days  earlier. 
He  said  that  it  was  "  beyond  measure  desirable 
that  the  Convention  shall  meet  in  an  atmosphere 
of  harmony  and  good-will  in  which  all  parties  can 
unreservedly  join.  Nothing  could  be  more  re- 
grettable than  that  the  work  of  the  Convention 
should  be  prejudiced  at  the  outset  by  embittered 
associations."  The  Government  in  deciding  to  re- 
lease the  prisoners  in  order  to  remove  one  of  the 
most  serious  causes  of  misunderstanding,  had 
satisfied  itself  "  in  the  first  place  that  the  public 
security  will  not  be  endangered  by  such  an  act  of 
grace ;  and  secondly,  that  in  none  of  the  cases  con- 
cerned is  there  evidence  that  participation  in  the 
Rebellion  was  accompanied  by  individual  acts 
which  could  render  such  a  display  of  clemency 
impossible."  He  concluded  by  saying  that  the 
grant  of  a  general  amnesty  was  inspired  by  the 
sanguine  hope  that  it  "  will  be  welcomed  in  a  spirit 


48    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

of  magnanimity,  and  that  the  Convention  will 
enter  upon  its  arduous  undertaking  in  circum- 
stances that  will  constitute  a  good  augury  for  that 
reconciliation  which  is  the  desire  of  all  parties  in 
all  parts  of  the  United  Kingdom  and  the  Empire." 
The  released  prisoners  arrived  in  Dublin  on 
June  20th,  having  been  brought  to  PentonviUe 
Prison  from  Parkhurst,  Maidstone,  Portland  and 
Lewes,  and  sent  off  to  Ireland  by  special  train, 
leaving  Euston  on  the  previous  Sunday  evening. 
Madame  Markievicz  was  not  released  from  Ayles- 
bury prison  until  Monday  evening.  They  were  met 
on  arrival  by  an  enormous  crowd  and  driven 
through  the  streets  in  procession.  Throughout  the 
day  there  was  a  considerable  display  of  Republican 
colours  in  the  streets,  and  there  were  some  dis- 
turbances in  the  town  at  night,  which  were  re- 
newed three  days  later  when  Madame  Markievicz 
arrived  and  was  driven  in  procession  to  Liberty 
Hall.  In  Dublin,  however,  though  there  was  much 
excitement,  no  serious  disorder  occurred.  In  Cork, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  return  of  the  prisoners 
was  followed  by  rioting  which  the  Press 
described  as  "  the  worst  seen  in  Cork  for 
forty  years."  Much  damage  was  done  to  property. 
Order  was  not  restored  until  the  military  were 
called  out,  and  machine  guns  mounted  in  the 
streets.  In  the  course  of  the  earlier  disturbances, 
when  the  police  made  numerous  baton  charges  and 
revolver  shots  were  freely  exchanged,  one  man  was 
killed  and  several  injured.  Everywhere  through- 
out the  country  as  the  released  men  reached  their 
homes  they  were  received  with  tremendous 
enthusiasm.  Many  of  them  left  home  again  almost 
immediately  to  support  Mr.  de  Valera,  who  had 
emerged  almost  immediately  as  the  most  pro- 
minent of  the  released  prisoners,  and  had  been 
selected  as  the  Sinn  Fein  candidate  for  the  vacant 
seat  in  East  Clare. 


ORIGIN   OF    THE   CONVENTION        49 

During  the  early  part  of  July  public  attention 
was  divided  between  this  election  and  the  selection 
by  the  various  bodies  of  delegates  to  the  Conven- 
tion. We  deal  with  the  East  Clare  election  in  our 
next  chapter.  The  Convention  held  its  first  meet- 
ing on  July  25th  under  the  shadow  of  Mr.  de 
Valera's  overwhelming  victory.  The  first  meeting 
was  preceded  by  a  picturesque  incident — a  Service 
for  delegates  in  St.  Andrew's  Church,  Suffolk 
Street,  Dublin,  which  was  in  former  days  very 
closely  connected  with  the  Irish  House  of  Com- 
mons, whose  members  assembled  there  for  worship 
on  all  great  occasions.  The  Convention  met  in  the 
Regent  House,  Trinity  College,  a  commodious 
block  of  buildings  placed  at  its  disposal  by  the 
Provost,  and  made  what  was  generally  regarded 
as  an  auspicious  beginning  by  unanimously  elect- 
ing Sir  Horace  Plunkett  as  its  Chairman. 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE   SINN  FEIN  POLICY. 

It  is  probable  that  of  the  four  Sinn  Fein  electoral 
victories  in  1917,  that  at  Longford  was  the  most 
important.  The  division  had  always  been  regarded 
as  one  of  the  safest  of  the  Party  seats  (unlike  Ros- 
common, Kilkenny  and  Clare,  which  had  all  cer- 
tain neo-Fenian  traditions),  and  Sinn  Fein  itself 
hardly  hoped  for  success.  An  English  newspaper, 
The  Manchester  Guardian,  described  the  return 
of  Mr.  McGuinness  as  the  equivalent  of  a  serious 
British  defeat  in  the  field ;  and  the  event  undoubt- 
edly played  a  part  in  inducing  the  Government  to 
that  reconsideration  of  its  non-fossumus  attitude 
of  March  in  regard  to  Irish  settlement,  which 
finally  produced  the  Convention.  But  in  pictur- 
esque character  the  contest  in  East  Clare  outdid 
others.  The  circumstances  of  the  case  made 
attention  emphatic,  for  the  vacancy  had  occurred 
through  the  death  of  Mr.  John  Redmond's  brother, 
Major  Redmond,  a  victim  of  the  war  whose 
gallantry  was  in  the  mouths  of  all,  and  Sinn  Fein 
proposed  to  fill  the  vacancy  with  a  man  who  had 
been  sentenced  to  execution  for  a  cause  seemingly 
opposite  to  that  for  which  Major  Redmond  had 
died.  Mr.  de  Valera  went  straight  from  prison 
to  Clare,  where  his  personality  evoked  immense 
curiosity.  He  was  a  man  of  about  35,  who  had 
worked  for  many  years  in  the  Gaelic  League,  and 
was  by  profession  a  school-master.  There  were 
unfounded  rumours,  suggested  perhaps  by  the 
foreign  name,  that  Mr.  de  Valera  had  a  past  of 
extraordinary  revolutionary  adventure  in  foreign 
lands.  In  fact,  though  born  in  New  York,  his 
childhood  and  youth  had  passed  quietly  in  Ire- 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  51 

land.  He  had  a  Spanish-American  father, 
but  his  mother's  family  was  Irish  and  resided  in 
Co.  Limerick.  Good  reports  were  spread  concern- 
ing his  leadership  and  conduct  during  the  rising 
as  rebel  Commandant  at  Boland's  Mills  in  Dublin, 
and  these  emanated  not  only  from  his  followers 
but  also  from  friends  who  were  his  political 
opponents. 

Clare  took  to  Mr.  de  Valera  at  once,  and  the 
Sinn  Fein  progress  was  a  triumphal  one.  The  name 
itself  of  the  hero  seemed  to  delight  the  lips  of 
all,  especially  those  of  children.  Yet  Mr.  de 
Valera  was  little  of  an  orator,  and  when  he  spoke 
he  seemed  rather  to  be  arguing  with  himself  aloud 
than  trying  to  convince  an  audience.  His  sup- 
porters at  the  election  relied  largely  upon  a  destruc- 
tive criticism  of  the  Irish  Party's  recent  policy. 
Many  priests  in  the  constituency,  including  the 
Bishop,  had  turned  anti-Redmondite  on  the  Ulster 
question,  but  the  chief  question  at  issue  was 
whether  "  the  Crown  Prosecutor " — Mr.  de 
Valera's  opponent,  Mr.  Lynch,  had  held  the 
position  of  a  Crown  Prosecutor — should  be  pre- 
ferred to  a  comrade  of  "the  men  who  had  died  for 
Ireland."  The  Party  itself  put  little  energy  into 
the  combat,  and  Mr.  Lynch,  while  expressing 
himself  as  a  follower  of  Mr.  Redmond  stood  "  un- 
officially." The  result  was  quickly  seen  to  be  a 
foregone  conclusion ;  but  the  figure  of  3,000,  which 
was  Mr.  de  Valera's  majority,  caused  consterna- 
tion amongst  the  Parliamentarians. 

Mr.  Lennox  Robinson,  the  Irish  critic  and  play- 
wright, has  very  pleasantly  described  the  final 
scenes  in  Ennis,  that  "  town  of  streams  and  grace- 
ful bridges."  "  The  gate  opens  at  last  and  we  are 
swept  through  it.  But  there  is  no  rowdyism,  no 
disorder.  The  Sinn  Fein  Volunteers  take  entire 
possession  of  the  situation;  they  organise  the 
crowd ;  they  form  ranks  in  front  of  the  Courthouse 


52    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

steps;  the  discipline  is  perfect;  we  mere  outsiders 
are  pushed  back,  we  are  like  civilians  at  a  military 
review.  A  line  of  bored  police  at  the  foot  of  the 
steps  faces  the  Volunteers;  a  D.I.  strangely  aloof 
from  the  situation  stands  at  the  foot  of  a  granite 
pillar.  .  .  .  There  is  no  longer  any  doubt  about 
it,  de  Valera  is  in,  the  Volunteers  cheer  again  and 
again,  and  the  man  capers.  We  breathe  a  sigh  of 
relief  when  he  is  pushed  aside  and  the  hero  of  the 
day,  in  Volunteer  uniform,  comes  forward. 
Young,  dark,  eager,  vivid,  the  very  counterpart 
of  these  young  men  around  us.  If  personality 
counts  for  anything,  if  like  be  attracted  by  like, 
we  understand  why  he  has  won.    .    .    ." 

"  '  Going  and  going !  '  What  will  you  bid?  The 
Unionist  bids  one  thing,  the  Nationalist  another, 
William  Redmond  throws  his  life  into  the  scale, 
de  Valera  boldly  bids  an  '  Irish  Republic'  This 
last  extravagant  bid  is  rather  like  that  of  a  man 
who,  with  a  balance  at  his  bank  of  a  hundred 
pounds,  offers  you  a  cheque  for  a  million;  but  five 
thousand  Claremen  have  accepted  his  promise  as 
good,  and  the  bidding  has  been  pushed  up.  '  Going, 
going.'  What  will  you  bid  ?  What  will  the  Coi:i- 
vention  bid?    It  must  bid  high  and  boldly." 

Just  after  his  victory  in  Clare,  Mr.  de  Valera 
devoted  much  of  his  time  to  the  constituency.  He 
had  apparently  established  a  remarkable  personal 
ascendancy  over  the  young  men  in  this  county,  and 
during  the  early  autumn  he  addressed  many  large 
meetings  and  parades  of  his  Volunteers.  His 
speeches,  as  reported  in  the  newspapers,  suggested 
that  a  "  second  Easter  Week  "  might  be  in  con- 
templation. It  is  true  that  the  Sinn  Fein  leader 
had  often  to  correct  these  reports,  and  that  the 
more  fiery  passages,  when  carefully  read  in  their 
proper  context,  usually  contained  important  re- 
servations. Journalists  were,  at  all  events,  attracted 
to  the  County  Clare,  and  a  Daily  Mail  "  special 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  53 

representative ''  "  wrote  up  "  the  progress  of  the 
Sinn  Fein  leader,  and  described,  in  a  tone  at  once 
jocose  and  wondering,  "the  splendid  manhood" 
at  his  command,  and  the  "  colleens  "  who  laid  gifts 
at  his  feet.  Suddenly  the  Government  seemed 
to  regret  that  it  had  released  the  prisoners 
from  penal  servitude,  and  a  period  of  scares  en- 
sues. Stringent  orders  had  been  issued  on  the 
eve  of  the  Convention's  meeting  against  drilling 
and  the  carrying  of  arms.  When  these  were 
disobeyed  arrests  were  promptly  made.  Large 
numbers  of  the  men  of  Easter  Week  found 
themselves  again  in  jail,  under  sentences  varying 
from  two  months  to  three  years.  Mr.  de  Valera 
himself  remained  unmolested.  The  Parliamentary 
representative  of  Kilkenny  City,  a  popular  mem- 
ber of  the  Irish  Party,  died,  and  this  urban  con- 
stituency promptly  endorsed  the  Sinn  Fein  pro- 
gramme by  returning  Mr.  Cosgrave,  one  of  Mr. 
de  Valera's  colleagues,  at  the  head  of  the  poll. 

The  tension  had  grown  very  acute.  One  of  the 
most  prominent  of  British  publicists,  Mr.  Austin 
Harrison,  arrived  in  Ireland  and  insisted  in 
urgent  articles  and  letters  that  no  treaty  of  peace 
between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  would  be  worth 
the  paper  it  was  written  on  unless  signed  by  Sinn 
Fein,  But  Mr.  Harrison  failed  to  impress  either 
the  Government  or  Sinn  Fein.  He  wanted  the 
latter  to  associate  itself  with  a  so-called  "  Inter- 
national Magna  Charta,''  which  was  a  proposed 
demonstration  in  favour  of  peace  on  the  lines  of 
democracy  and  the  self-determination  of  nation- 
alities. In  return,  Mr.  Harrison  suggested,  the 
Sinn  Fein  claim  would  receive  favourable  con- 
sideration from  the  progressive  forces  of  the 
allied  countries.  The  leaders  of  Sinn  Fein  scented 
some  deep-laid  conspiracy  on  the  part  of  Mr. 
Harrison,  and  withdrew  from  the  negotiations ; 
Mr.  John  MacNeill,  however,  expressed  an  inter- 


54    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

esting  personal  opinion  on  Ireland's  position  in 
regard  to  internationalism,  and  on  the  general 
issues  which  had  been  raised,  in  the  English 
Review,  Mr.  Austin  Harrison's  magazine. 
"  Several  of  the  belligerent  powers,"  he  said,  "  have 
themselves  questioned  the  right  of  sovereignty. 
Great  Britain  and  France  have  echoed  the  declara- 
tions of  America  and  Russia.  The  doctrine  of  the 
rights  of  nations  has  been  set  up  against  the 
doctrine  of  absolute  sovereignty."  Mr.  McNeill 
for  his  part  accepted  the  former  doctrine,  the 
application  of  which  would  lead  in  the  case  of 
Ireland  to  a  situation  of  interdependence,  Ire- 
land claimed,"  he  said,  "national  liberty  not  less 
than  that  of  any  other  nation,"  but  no  country 
would  have  a  greater  interest  in  the  world's  peace, 
and  in  a  reorganised  Europe  there  would  be  no 
danger  to  England  of  her  entering  into  entangling 
alliances  or  engagements.  The  English  military 
and  naval  objection  to  the  separation  of  Ireland 
presumed  the  doctrine  of  absolute  sovereignty  as 
opposed  to  the  doctrine  of  national  rights  and  was 
therefore  not  in  keeping  with  Allied  professions. 
As  regards  the  economic  side  of  the  question,  Mr. 
MacNeill  conceded  that  in  any  circumstances  the 
most  intimate  commercial  relations  would  con- 
tinue to  exist  between  the  two  countries,  and  in 
this  way  dissociated  himself  from  the  doctrine 
of  economic  nationalism  preached  by  Mr.  Arthur 
Griffith  and  the  orthodox  Sinn  Feiners.  In  the 
same  number  of  the  English  Review  the  Editor 
described  the  situation  thus  : — "  The  Government 
Castle  rule  is  now  recognised  by  all'as  doomed,  yet 
still  this  government  exists  and  still  it  has  to 
govern;  and  against  it  there  stands  ranged  Sinn 
Fein,  which  the  Government  regards  as  a  re- 
volutionary party,  and  so  without  status.  Be- 
tween these  there  is  Nationalism,  which  probably 
at  the  polls  would  not  return  ten  members.    .    .    . 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  55 

The  danger  lies  in  the  anomaly  that  Sinn  Fein 
is  not  recognised  as  a  party." 

The  philosophical  "  conversations "  between 
the  Sinn  Fein  leaders  and  the  English  Editor  did 
not  relieve  the  tension.  The  prisoners  in  Mount- 
joy  jail  went  on  hunger  strike,  were  forcibly  fed, 
and  on  September  30th  one  of  them,  Thomas  Ashe, 
died.  Ashe,  a  native  of  Dingle,  Co.  Kerry,  who 
was  a  schoolmaster  in  County  Dublin,  had  been  a 
very  popular  member  of  the  Gaelic  League,  and 
during  the  Rebellion  had  led  the  Volunteers  in  a 
victorious  and  bloody  affray  with  the  police  at 
Ashbourne  in  County  Meath.  After  his  return 
from  an  English  prison  he  soon  found  himself  in  an 
Irish  prison  convicted  on  the  charge  of  seditious 
speech.  Ashe  died  in  hospital  a  few  hours  after 
being  removed  in  an  exhausted  condition  from 
Mountjoy  Prison.  Preparations  were  at  once 
made  for  the  organisation  of  a  funeral,  which 
should  be  the  occasion  of  such  a  procession  through 
the  streets  of  Dublin  as  had  not  been  witnessed 
since  the  death  of  Parnell.  The  funeral  was,  in 
truth,  an  impressive  spectacle.  Thousands  upon 
thousands  of  Irishmen  and  women,  country  and 
townfolk,  lined  the  "  ancient  way  "  to  Glasnevin. 
Nothing  could  have  been  more  orderly  than  their 
conduct,  and  the  contrast  with  the  public  funerals 
of  Irishmen  in  former  times  (which  ended  always 
with  jovial  night  scenes)  was  the  subject  of  much 
comment.  Had  Ireland  become  militarised,  dis- 
ciplined, docile  ?  The  dominant  feature  of  the  day 
was  the  reappearance  of  the  Volunteers  in  uni- 
form and  marching  order — a  breach  of  the 
military  regulations  of  which  no  account  was 
taken. 

A  month  was  occupied  with  the  inquest  on 
Ashe.  During  the  proceedings  the  jury  proposed 
that  the  Chief  Secretary  might  have  useful 
evidence  to  impart.    But  Mr.  Duke  did  not  put  in 


56    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

an  appearance  at  the  Coroner's  court.  The 
Prisons  Board  pleaded  privilege.  Mr.  Healy, 
M.P.,  who  appeared  for  Ashe's  relatives,  seemed 
uncertain  as  to  whether  the  English  Government 
or  the  Prisons  Board,  or  the  doctor  who  had  ad- 
ministered the  forcible  feeding  should  be  the 
object  of  his  attack.  At  the  head  of  the  Prisons 
Board,  as  it  happened,  was  Mr.  Max  Green,  who 
was  the  son-in-law  of  Mr.  Redmond  himself. 
Finally  the  jury,  which  was  by  no  means  Sinn  Fein 
in  its  composition,  delivered  its  verdict  as 
follows : — "  We  find  that  the  deceased,  Thomas 
Ashe,  according  to  the  medical  evidence  of  Pro- 
fessor McWeeney,  Sir  Arthur  Chance,  and  Sir 
Thomas  Myles,  died  from  heart  failure  and  con- 
gestion of  the  lungs  on  September  25,  and  that  his 
death  was  caused  by  the  punishment  of  taking 
away  from  his  cell  his  bed,  bedding,  and  boots, 
and  being  left  to  lie  on  the  cold  floor  for  fifty 
hours,  and  then  being  subjected  to  forcible  feed- 
ing in  his  weak  condition,  after  a  hunger  strike  of 
five  or  six  days.  We  censure  the  Castle  authorities 
for  not  having  acted  promptly,  especially  when  the 
grave  condition  of  the  deceased  and  other  prisoners 
was  brought  under  their  notice  on  the  previous 
Saturday  by  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Sir  John  Irwin ; 
and  find  that  the  hunger  strike  was  adopted  against 
the  inhuman  punishment  inflicted,  and  as  a  protest 
against  their  being  treated  as  criminals  after  they 
demanded  to  be  treated  as  political  prisoners  in 
the  first  division.  We  condemn  forcible  or 
mechanical  feeding  as  an  inhuman  and  dangerous 
operation,  and  say  that  it  should  be  discontinued. 
We  find  that  the  assistant  doctor  that  was  called 
in,  having  had  no  previous  practice  in  such  opera- 
tions, administered  forcible  feeding  unskilfully; 
and  that  the  taking  away  of  the  deceased's  bed, 
bedding  and  boots  was  an  unfeeling  and  barbarous 
act.    And  we  censure  the  Deputy-Governor  for 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  57 

violating  the  prison  rules,  and  inflicting  punish- 
ment which  he  had  no  power  to  do.  We  infer  that 
he  was  acting  under  instructions  from  the  Prisons 
Board  at  the  Castle,  which  refused  to  give  evidence 
and  documents  asked  for.  We  tender  our 
sympathy  to  the  relatives  of  the  deceased  in  this 
sad  and  tragic  occurrence." 

Concessions  were  made  by  the  Irish  Government 
in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  imprisoned  Sinn 
Feiners  (who  had  demanded  the  status  of  political 
prisoners);  and  if  these  concessions  did  not 
altogether  satisfy  the  national  sentiment,  they  at 
least  made  it  likely  that  another  tragedy  like  that 
of  Ashe  would  be  avoided.  Dublin  Castle  made  it 
clear  that  while  drilling  would  not  be  tolerated, 
a  considerable  latitude  would  be  allowed  to  the 
expression  of  Sinn  Fein  opinion.  The  crisis,  how- 
ever, lingered  on,  and  numbers  of  arrests  of  the 
smaller  fry  of  the  movement  continued  to  be  made. 
In  the  month  of  October  Nationalists  were  made 
very  indignant  by  the  action  of  the  police,  acting 
under  military  instructions,  in  making  extensive 
raids  for  the  arms  belonging  to  the  old  Redmond- 
ite  or  "  constitutional "  Volunteers.  It  was  charged 
to  the  partiality  of  the  Government  that  the 
arsenals  of  the  Northern  Unionists  were  left  un- 
invaded.  Mr.  Duke  defended  himself  as  follows  : — 
Colonel  Moore,  who  before  the  split  among  the 
Nationalist  Volunteers  had  been  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal officers  and  leaders  of  the  movement,  now 
proposed  to  reorganise  the  force.  But  Colonel 
Moore,  although  not  a  Sinn  Feiner,  no  longer  saw 
eye  to  eye  with  Mr.  Redmond  on  political  matters, 
and  the  force,  if  reorganised  as  proposed,  would 
have  been  emancipated  from  the  control  of  the 
Irish  Parliamentary  Party.  There  was  the 
possibility  of  a  rapprochement  with  the  Sinn 
Fein  Volunteers.  The  Irish  Command  enquired 
of    Colonel    Moore    whether    he    could    give    a 


58    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

guarantee  that  the  possessions  of  his  Volunteers 
would  not  fall  into  undesirable  hands.  Colonel 
Moore  was  unable  to  do  this,  and  therefore  in  the 
interests  of  public  safety  orders  were  given  for 
the  disarmament  of  his  men. 

This  statement  was  made  in  a  debate  in  Parlia- 
ment on  October  23rd,  on  a  motion  by  Mr.  Red- 
mond, deploring  the  policy  of  the  Irish  Executive. 
He  described  the  situation  in  Ireland  as  one  of 
extreme  gravity,  and  referred  to  the  seizure  of 
arms,  and  the  arrest  and  treatment  of  Sinn  Fein 
prisoners,  and  the  death  of  Thomas  Ashe  as  in- 
stances   of    an    irritating    policy.      The     Chief 
Secretary,  in  his  reply,  agreed  with  Mr.  Redmond 
that  "this  is  a  time  in  Ireland  of  grave  crisis  and 
peril,  but  it  is  also  a  time  of  unprecedented  and  un- 
equalled opportunity."    He  proceeded   to  defend 
the  policy  of  the  Executive  on  the  ground  that 
"  the  young  men  of  Ireland — 200,000  of  them — are 
being  enrolled  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  new 
Rebellion  in  Ireland.     .    .     .     Week  by  week,  ex- 
tending over  a  period  of  several  months,  there  has 
been  steadily  growing,  in  every  parish  in  Ireland, 
a  new  organisation  of  Irish  Volunteers."    Refer- 
ring to  the  deportations  in  February,  he  said  that 
the  deportation  of  "  a  certain  number  of  people 
who  had  been  engaged,  and  are  now  engaged,  in 
this  conspiracy,"  was  ordered  because  "  the  help- 
ing hand  of  Germany  was  being  held  out  again, 
and  His  Majesty's  Government  knew  it  well."  Mr. 
Duke  went  on  to  declare  that  "  half  of  the  trouble 
in  Ireland  during  recent  weeks  has  arisen  because 
the  Convention  is  doing  well.     The  design  of  the 
leaders  of  the  Sinn  Fein  movement  requires  the 
failure  of  the  Convention."     To  an  interrogation 
asking  why  Mr.  de  Valera  was  at  large,  the  Chief 
Secretary  replied  that  for  mere  political  contro- 
versy, however  extreme,  while  a  new  Constitution 
for  Ireland  was  in  the  making,  there  should  be  no 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  59 

arrest  which  could  be  avoided.  Nothing  could  be 
more  helpful  to  the  propaganda  of  secession.  He 
concluded  by  saying  that  there  had  been,  and  there 
would  be,  no  arrests  except  of  people  who  directly 
incited  to  violence,  or  for  the  deliberate  infringe- 
ment of  public  safety.  Later  Mr.  Lloyd  George 
intervened  in  the  debate.  Mr.  de  Valera's  speeches, 
he  said,  were  "  calm,  deliberate  and  almost  cold- 
blooded incitements  to  rebellion."  The  Govern- 
ment could  not  possibly  forget  what  had  previously 
happened  when  speeches  of  the  same  sort  were 
delivered,  and  there  was  the  same  kind  of  drilling, 
and  the  same  sort  of  information  about  intrigues 
to  get  German  rifles  into  Ireland.  It  was  essential 
that  the  Government  should  take  action — not  pro- 
vocative action  but  firm  action.  The  Prime  Minister 
added  that  there  were  three  things  which  the 
Government  must  make  quite  clear  in  the  interests 
of  the  Convention  and  of  Ireland.  First  of  all, 
the  incitements  to  rebellion  could  not  be  tolerated, 
and  the  language  of  Mr.  de  Valera  was  language 
that  could  have  no  other  meaning.  Anything  that 
was  part  and  parcel  of  an  organisation  for 
rebellion  must  be  stopped.  In  the  next  place,  as  to 
the  Sinn  Fein  demand  for  sovereign  independence, 
"the  Government  could  not  accept  anything  of 
that  sort."  Finally  the  Prime  Minister  repeated  in 
specific  terms  the  Government's  undertaking  to 
give  legislative  effect  to  any  finding  of  the  Conven- 
tion which  commanded  "  substantial  agreement." 
The  death  of  Ashe  had  exalted  and  extended 
the  sentiment  of  Sinn  Fein.  Nevertheless,  as  the 
Convention  continued  to  do  its  work,  the  hope  of 
a  constitutional  and  peaceful  settlement  began 
to  grow  very  strong  throughout  the  country.  The 
militarism  attributed  to  Mr.  de  Valera  received 
a  set  back,  even  in  communities  which  remained 
wholly  Sinn  Fein  in  sentiment.  A  clerical  party 
which  was  by  no  means  dependent  on  Mr.  Red- 


60    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

mond  but  yet  disliked  greatly  the  doctrine  of 
physical  force  began  to  establish  its  influence. 
Dr.  O'Dwyer,  the  Sinn  Fein  Bishop  of  Limerick, 
Sir  John  Maxwell's  antagonist,  was  dead,  and 
his  mantle  of  patriot  had  fallen  to  some  extent 
upon  Dr.  Fogarty,  Bishop  of  the  neighbouring 
See  of  Killaloe.  Dr.  Fogarty  had  voted  for 
Mr.  de  Valera  at  the  East  Clare  Election, 
and  had  written  a  very  popular  comment  on  the 
Ashe  case.  But  Dr.  Walsh,  the  Archbishop  of 
Dublin,  whose  intervention  in  the  Longford  con- 
test had  proved  of  inestimable  benefit  to  Sinn 
Fein,  was  now  silent.  Such  dignitaries  of  the 
Church  as  spoke  uttered  what  were  described  as 
"  solemn  notes  of  warning."  They  besought  their 
countrymen  not  to  forsake  the  paths  of  constitu- 
tional agitation,  and  quoted  Papal  dicta  in  regard 
to  the  need  of  obedience  to  lawful  authority.  These 
pronouncements  were  directed  evidently  against 
the  Volunteers  rather  than  against  the  Sinn  Fein 
movement  proper.  The  Volunteer  and  Sinn  Fein 
organisations  had  been  formally  recognised  as 
separate  from  each  other  at  the  Sinn  Fein  Con- 
vention of  October  25th,  the  details  of  which  are 
given  below.  Mr.  de  Valera  and  other  leaders  re- 
plied to  the  Bishops;  denied  that  another  rising 
was  in  contemplation ;  but  demurred  to  the  descrip- 
tion of  British  Government  as  a  lawful 
authority.  Towards  the  end  of  November 
Cardinal  Logue  issued  a  long  statement  on  the 
war,  on  Ireland  and  the  Convention.  He  expressed 
his  regret  that  Europe  had  refused  to  be  guided 
to  the  conclusion  of  a  Christian  peace  by  the 
admonitions  of  the  Vatican.  Ireland  surely,  he 
continued,  would  not  add  to  the  general  misery  of 
the  world  by  any  rash,  foolish  or  un-Christian 
action  of  her  own.  Any  pacificist  might  have  sub- 
scribed to  the  Cardinal's  statement,  which,  never- 
theless, contained  several  direct  reproaches  of 
Sinn  Fein.    Cardinal  Logue  characterised  the  Re- 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  61 

public  propaganda  as  an  insane  one,  and  asserted 
that  the  whole  hope  of  Ireland  depended  on  a 
successful  outcome  of  the  Convention. 

It  appears  that  during  the  month  of  October 
very  considerable  pressure  was  exercised  upon  the 
military  and  civil  authorities  of  Dublin  Castle, 
with  the  object  of  inducing  the  arrest  of  Mr.  de 
Valera  and  the  complete  suppression  of  Sinn  Fein. 
We  have  already  mentioned  the  Irish  debate  in  the 
House  of  Commons  in  which  the  Premier  had 
quoted  some  strong  passages  from  Mr.  de  Valera's 
speeches,  and  had  indicated  that  at  any  moment 
the  Government  might  cease  to  tolerate  Republican 
propaganda.  He  had  replied  with  the  word 
''  never  "  to  the  Sinn  Fein  demand  for  the  com- 
plete "  self-determination "  of  Ireland,  and  de- 
clared that  in  no  circumstances  would  Great 
Britain  grant  to  Ireland  the  right  of  secession.  The 
interests  and  influences  represented  by  the 
militarist  Morning  Post  asserted  that  the  natural 
corollary  of  such  declarations  was  the  application 
of  force.  Conscription  offered  the  remedy;  for 
conciliation  and  compromise  had  been  tried  and 
found  wanting — as  the  Sinn  Fein  attitude  towards 
the  Convention  showed.  Towards  the  end  of  the 
first  week  in  November  the  Nationalist  Press  of 
Dublin  and  the  provinces  began  to  display  signs 
of  extraordinary  alarm.  It  was  widely  reported 
on  the  one  hand  that  another  rising  was  contem- 
plated, and  on  the  other  hand  that  the  Govern- 
ment had  decided  to  arrest  Mr.  de  Valera.  It 
had  been  announced  that  there  would  be  a  parade 
of  Volunteers  through  Dublin  on  the  following 
Sunday,  November  4th,  and  that  a  Sinn  Fein  meet- 
ing, to  be  held  at  Newbridge,  near  the  Curragh, 
had  been  proclaimed  by  the  military  authorities. 
The  Independent  newspapers  published  alarming 
appeals  to  Sinn  Fein  to  desist  from  any  action 
that  might  lead  to  bloodshed,  and  there  were  wide- 


62    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

spread  and  extravagant  rumours  as  to  the  im- 
mense military  preparations  and  precautions  that 
had  been  taken.  The  rumours,  in  fact,  coincided 
with  extensive  troop  movements  which,  as  it  proved 
afterwards,  had  no  connection  with  the  state  of 
Ireland.  In  face  of  the  police  preparations  the 
proclaimed  meeting  was  abandoned.  In  many 
parts  of  the  country,  including  the  outskirts  of 
Dublin,  contingents  of  the  Irish  Volunteers  held 
uniformed  parades  and  route  marches,  but  nothing 
happened  in  the  end;  the  dreaded  Sunday  passed 
off  quite  quietly  The  scare  was,  however,  the  sub- 
ject of  newspaper  comment  for  many  weeks,  during 
which  the  Freeman's  Journal  discoursed  on  the 
attempts  of  a  "  hidden  hand"  to  provoke  trouble 
in  Ireland  with  the  object  of  hampering  the  work 
of  the  Convention. 

A  speech  by  Lord  Wimborne,  the  Viceroy, 
in  the  House  of  Lords  some  days  later  lent  colour 
to  this  view  of  the  situation.  Lord  Wimborne 
said  that  the  Government  had  been  ciil'cum- 
stantially  informed  that  there  would  be  a  rising, 
"  but  the  Chief  Secretary,  with  my  full  concur- 
rence, refused  to  take  advice  tendered  as  to  what 
his  duty  was.  Far  from  there  being  a  rising,  or 
even  an  armed  demonstration,  or  indeed  any  demon- 
stration at  all,  not  a  dog  barked."  He  added  that 
had  preventive  action  been  taken  it  would  inevit- 
ably, "  as  perhaps  was  intended,"  have  killed  the 
Convention.  In  the  same  speech  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  said  that  the  Government  possessed  an 
adequate  military  establishment  for  the  enforce- 
ment of  law  and  order,  that  the  drilling  in  the 
south  and  west  had  at  present  no  military  signifi- 
cance, and  that  in  these  circumstances  "  the  policy 
of  the  Irish  Government  must  be  not  to  seek 
trouble,  but  if  trouble  came  to  be  ready  to  meet  it.'' 
The  governing  factor  in  the  Irish  situation  was 
the  Convention.     The  Irish   Government  had  a 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  63 

double  duty  to  perform :  its  duty  to  Ireland  was 
to  pursue  the  policy  of  appeasement  and  recon- 
ciliation ;  its  duty  to  the  Empire  to  protect  it  from 
untoward  and  hampering  perils  in  the  prosecution 
of  its  task.  Both  these  duties,  Lord  Wimborne  de- 
clared, were  being  faithfully  performed. 

Let  us  now  retrace  our  steps  a  little  and  allow 
Sinn  Fein  to  speak  for  itself,  officially,  as  it  did 
at  the  Sinn  Fein  Convention  which  assembled  in 
the  Dublin  Mansion  House  on  October  25th,  and 
concluded  its  proceedings  on  the  following  day. 
These  proceedings  threw  some  new  light  on  its 
quality  and  strength.  Observers  were  much  im- 
pressed by  their  dignity,  order,  and  self -discip- 
line, and  by  the  general  freedom  of  the  movement 
from  the  meaner  political  vices  and  those  personal 
jealousies  and  suspicions  which  have  commonly 
infected  Irish  politics.  A  report  read  by  Dr.  T. 
Dillon,  one  of  the  secretaries,  showed  the  progress 
made  by  the  Sinn  Fein  organisation  during  the 
past  year.  It  stated  that  the  past  eight  months 
had  been  a  period  of  unprecedented  growth  and 
activity  in  regard  to  the  movement  for  the  achieve- 
ment of  Irish  independence.  The  tremendous 
victories  of  East  Clare  and  Kilkenny  were  the  first 
fruits  of  the  amalgamation  of  all  the  national 
political  organisations.  There  were  at  present 
affiliated  to  the  organisation  close  on  twelve 
hundred  clubs,  representing  a  membership  of  a 
quarter  of  a  million.  The  Convention  consisted  of 
seventeen  hundred  delegates,  representing  rather 
more  than  a  thousand  clubs. 

Mr.  Arthur  Griffith,  in  his  Presidential 
Address,  said  that  the  fundamental  position 
for  which  Sinn  Fein  strove  had  been  gained : 
Ireland  had  renounced  the  British  Parliament, 
and  with  that  renunciation  she  had  destroyed 
the  moral  sanction  of  British  authority  in  the 
country.      He    proceeded    to    deny   in    emphatic 


64    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

terms  the  allegation  of  "  German  gold/'  The 
money  received  and  spent  by  Sinn  Fein  was  set 
out  in  their  balance  sheet,  and  every  penny  of  it 
was  subscribed  by  the  Irish  people.  The  balance 
sheet,  adopted  earlier  in  the  proceedings,  had 
shown  that  the  subscriptions  and  other  receipts 
up  to  September  30th  amounted  to  £4,566,  with 
an  expenditure,  chiefly  on  organisation  and  elec- 
tion expenses,  of  £3,315,  leaving  a  balance  in  hand 
of  £1,251.  If  their  opponents  were  surprised  at 
the  resources  of  Sinn  Fein,  said  Mr.  Griffith,  he 
replied  to  them  that  for  almost  all  the  work  of  the 
movement  the  workers  gave  their  services  and 
their  energies  voluntarily  and  without  pecuniary 
reward.  After  recalling  the  circumstances  in 
which  Sinn  Fein  had  refused  the  offer  of  repre- 
sentation on  the  Irish  Convention,  the  President 
went  on  to  say  that  Ireland's  case  at  the  Peace 
Conference  could  only  be  heard  under  two  condi- 
tions. The  first  was  the  destruction  of  the  Irish 
representation  in  the  English  Parliament,  for  if 
that  representation  were  to  remain  it  would  be 
taken  as  a  repudiation  of  Ireland's  demand  for 
sovereign  independence.  In  default  of  a  general 
election,  however,  they  must  have  a  Constituent 
Assembly  chosen  by  the  whole  people,  which  would 
speak  with  authority  for  the  people.  They  must 
see  that  every  constituency  selected  its  representa- 
tives to  meet  afterwards  in  Dublin  in  an  assembly 
which  would  speak  for  Ireland  at  the  Peace  Con- 
ference. When  that  assembly  sat  they  would  have 
taken  a  longer  step  towards  Irish  independence 
than  had  been  taken  for  the  last  hundred  and 
twenty  years.  Finally  Mr.  Griffith  spoke  of  the 
danger  of  a  split  in  the  movement.  All  differences 
on  minor  points  must  be  subordinated  to  the  great 
issue,  to  carry  out  to  the  fullest  degree  the  object 
for  which  men  had  died  in  every  generation — the 
complete  independence  of  Ireland. 


THE    SINN   FEIN    POLICY  65 

Mr.  Cathal  Burgess,  seconded  by  Mr.  Sean 
Milroy,  then  proposed  the  adoption  of  the  Con- 
stitution. This  Constitution,  embodied  in  a  lengthy 
document,  contained  as  its  essential  clauses  the 
following : — "  Sinn  Fein  aims  at  securing  the 
international  recognition  of  Ireland  as  an  inde- 
pendent Irish  Republic.  Having  achieved  that 
status  the  Irish  people  may,  by  referendum,  freely 
choose  their  own  form  of  government.  This  object 
shall  be  attained  through  the  Sinn  Fein  organisa- 
tion, which  shall,  in  the  name  of  the  sovereign 
Irish  people : — {a)  deny  the  right,  and  oppose  the 
will,  of  the  British  Parliament  or  British  Crown, 
or  any  other  foreign  Government,  to  legislate  for 
Ireland;  (5)  make  use  of  any  and  every  means 
available  to  render  impotent  the  power  of  Eng- 
land to  hold  Ireland  in  subjection  by  military  force 
or  otherwise.  And  whereas  no  law  made  without 
the  authority  and  consent  of  the  Irish  people  is 
ever,  or  can  be,  binding  on  the  Irish  people,  there- 
fore, in  accordance  with  the  resolution  of  Sinn 
Fein,  adopted  in  Convention,  1905,  a  Constituent 
Assembly  shall  be  convoked,  comprising  persons 
chosen  by  the  Irish  constituencies,  as  the  supreme 
national  authority  to  speak  and  act  in  the  name 
of  the  Irish  people,  and  to  devise  and  formulate 
measures  for  the  welfare  of  the  whole  people  of 
Ireland."  The  clauses  of  the  Constitution  were 
carefully  scrutinised  by  the  Convention,  but  it  was 
finally  adopted  with  no  substantial  modification. 
The  most  notable  incident  in  this  part  of  the  pro- 
ceedings was  the  moving  of  an  addendum  to  the 
Constitution  insisting  on  the  right  of  Irishmen  to 
drill  and  arm  for  the  defence  of  Ireland,  and 
declaring  that  men  of  military  age  should  be 
educated  in  the  use  of  arms.  After  the  President 
had  suggested  the  advisability  of  entangling  the 
political  organisation  of  Sinn  Fein  with  the 
military    organisation    of    the    Volunteers,    and 


66   THE   CONVENTION  AND  SINN   FEIN 

Father  OTlanagan  had  declared  that  for  Sinn 
Fein  to  attempt  to  enforce  conscription  as  their 
method  of  defending  Ireland  would  lead  them  to 
disaster,  it  was  decided  to  adopt  the  proposal  as 
an  expression  of  opinion,  but  not  to  embody  it  in 
the  Constitution. 

After  some  resolutions  dealing  with  labour 
questions,  the  Convention  next  proceeded  to  the 
election  of  officers.  Count  Plunkett  and  Mr. 
Griffith  then  announced  their  withdrawal  from 
candidature  for  the  Presidency  in  favour  of  Mr. 
de  Valera,  who  was  unanimously  elected  President 
— an  office  which  Mr.  Griffith  has  previously  filled 
for  six  years.  When  the  name  of  Mr.  John 
MacNeill  was  mentioned  as  a  member  of  the 
Executive,  Madame  Markievicz  protested  against 
his  election  on  the  ground  of  his  attitude  at  the 
time  of  the  rising.  Mr.  de  Valera  intervened  in  a 
somewhat  embittered  discussion  to  say  that  he 
knew  what  happened  better  than  any  living  man, 
and  that,  while  fault  might  be  found  with  Mr. 
MacNeilFs  judgment,  there  was  no  tribunal  under- 
standing what  took  place  would  do  other  than 
acquit  him  of  anything  like  cowardice  or  dis- 
honesty. Finally  he  closured  the  discussion  with 
the  remark  that  it  was  for  the  delegates  by  their 
votes  to  say  whether  Mr.  MacNeill  did  not  deserve 
to  be  honoured  by  his  countrymen.  In  the  sub- 
sequent voting  Mr.  MacNeill  was  returned  as  first 
member  of  the  Executive  Committee.  In  the 
voting  for  the  Vice-Presidents  Count  Plunkett 
received  386  votes,  Mr.  Griffith,  1,197,  and  Father 
OTlanagan  786.  The  two  last  named  were  thus 
elected  Vice-Presidents;  Mr.  W.  T.  Cosgrave  and 
Mr.  Ginnell  were  elected  Hon.  Treasurers,  and  Mr. 
Austin  Stack  and  Mr.  Darrell  Figgis  Hon.  Secre- 
taries, while  the  Executive  Committee  was  con- 
stituted of  twenty-four  persons.  Most  of  the  first 
day's  sitting  was  occupied  by  a  protracted  dis- 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  67 

cussion,  which  extended  into  the  second  day,  on 
schemes  of  organisation  prepared  by  Mr.  de 
Valera  and  Mr.  Cathal  Burgess.  The  latter's 
scheme  favoured  a  small  business-like  Executive; 
Mr.  de  Valera  recommended  a  scheme  which  pur- 
posely made  the  representation  on  the  National 
Council  large,  in  order  to  show  the  country  that 
Sinn  Fein  was  a  democratic  organisation,  that  it 
would  be  run  by  the  people  themselves,  and  that 
those  they  elected  would  not  be  able  to  machine 
them.  Finally  the  scheme  submitted  by  Mr.  de 
Valera  was  adopted.  It  was  agreed  that  the 
membership  fee  should  be  one  shilling  a  year,  and 
that  a  club  having  a  paid  up  membership  of  150 
should  be  entitled  to  three  delegates  on  the 
National  Council,  200  to  four  delegates,  and  250 
to  five,  on  payment  of  £1  in  addition  to  the  affilia- 
tion fee  for  each  delegate  above  two,  no  club  in  any 
case  to  have  more  than  five  delegates. 

After  Mr.  Ginnell  and  Mr.  McGuinness  had 
moved  and  seconded  a  resolution  expressing  the 
gratitude  of  the  Convention  to  Count  Plunkett  and 
Mr.  Griffith  for  having  withdrawn  from  the  con- 
test for  the  Presidency  in  favour  of  Mr.  de  Valera, 
the  new  President  addressed  the  Convention.  Mr. 
de  Valera  said  that  by  his  unanimous  election  the 
people  of  Ireland  had  endorsed  the  vote  of  the 
people  of  East  Clare,  and  declared  to  the  world 
that  the  policy  which  he  had  put  before  the 
electors  of  East  Clare  was  the  policy  of  the  people 
of  all  Ireland.  In  the  course  of  his  speech  he  re- 
ferred to  theological  criticism  of  the  Sinn  Fein 
movement,  and  said  that  the  condition  of  reason- 
able hope  of  success  which  justified  rebellion 
against  an  oppressive  authority  was  one  of  which 
they  should  take  advantage. 

Their  flag  was  the  flag  of  the  Irish  Republic. 
"  We  have,"  concluded  Mr.  de  Valera,  "  nailed 
that  flag  to  the  mast ;  we  shall  never  lower  it,  and  I 


68    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

ask  you  all,  in  the  words  in  which  Grattan  saluted 
Ireland  a  nation  in  his  time,  to  salute  that  flag, 
nailed  to  the  mast,  which  we  will  never  lower,  and 
say  '  Esto  peryetuay  Before  the  Convention 
closed  resolutions  were  passed  calling  on  all 
nations  at  the  Peace  Conference  to  sanction  Ire- 
land's claim  to  independence;  "repudiating  an 
English  nominated  Convention." 

In  connection  with  the  Sinn  Fein  Convention 
we  may  note  a  certain  divergence  which  had  earlier 
become  manifest  between  the  extreme  political 
Nationalist  movement  and  the  Irish  Labour  move- 
ment, though  the  two  movements  had  for  a  moment 
fused  and  met  in  the  Rebellion  of  1916.  The  Con- 
vention passed  two  resolutions  dealing  with  labour 
questions.  One  asserted  the  right  of  Labour  to 
fair  and  reasonable  wages;  the  other  called  upon 
Irish  workers  who  were  members  of  trade  unions' 
with  headquarters  in  Great  Britain  to  sever  their 
connection  with  such  organisations.  Spokesmen 
of  the  Labour  movement,  which  shortly  after- 
wards established  an  independent  weekly  news- 
paper under  the  general  direction  of  Mr.  Thomas 
Johnston,  Past  President  of  the  Irish  Trades 
Union  Congress,  were  quick  to  join  issue  with 
Sinn  Fein  on  these  resolutions.  They  pointed 
out  that  the  first  was  of  a  platonic  character  to 
which  any  association  of  employers  might  have 
assented  without  demur,  and  that  the  second 
ignored  the  conditions  of  the  development  of  the 
Irish  Labour  movement,  which  could  not  afford 
to  match  the  political  nationalism  of  Sinn  Fein 
with  industrial  nationalism.  Against  this 
doctrine  they  urged  that,  apart  from  the  largely 
unskilled  labour  indifferently  grouped  and  organ- 
ised in  the  Irish  Transport  Workers'  Union, 
skilled  workers  in  Ireland  were  relatively  too  few 
and  too  dispersed  to  stand  aside  from  the  British 
trade  union  system;  the  most  important  bodies  of 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  69 

skilled  workmen  in  Ireland — such  as  the  railway- 
men,  the  engineers  and  allied  tradesmen,  and  the 
builders — depended  so  much  in  the  present  stage 
of  their  development  upon  their  unions  and 
federations  with  headquarters  in  Great  Britain 
that  to  sever  them  from  the  British  labour 
movement  (especially  at  a  time  when  that  move- 
ment was  taking  active  steps  to  extend  its  influence 
in  the  national  life)  would  compromise  the  whole 
basis  of  the  growth  of  trade  union  organisation 
in  Ireland. 

A  divergence  between  Sinn  Fein  and  the  Irish 
Labour  movement  was,  indeed,  inevitable.  The 
mating  of  insurgent  Nationalism  and  insurgent 
Labour  in  the  Easter  Week  rising  was  inherently 
an  instable  union.  The  whole  gospel  of  James 
Connolly,  the  real  driving  force  behind  that  rising, 
was  a  preaching  of  nationalism  in  economic 
terms  :  he  sought  always  to  interpret  and  express 
the  Irish  struggle  for  political  freedom  in  terms 
of,  and  as  an  integral  part  of,  the  international 
struggle  for  the  economic  emancipation  of  the  pro- 
letariat. Connolly  did  not  die  for  Irish  national- 
ism in  the  political  sense;  he  died,  in  Mr.  Robert 
Lynd's  apt  phrase,  as  "  Ireland's  first  Socialist 
martyr."  But  Sinn  Fein  in  its  later  manifesta- 
tion, implicated  as  it  were  almost  by  accident  in 
what  was  essentially  a  revolt  of  the  Dublin  slums 
and  acquiring  afterwards  the  reflected  glory  of 
his  martyrdom  in  the  cause  of  Socialism,  did 
not  perpetuate  his  gospel.  Sinn  Fein  developed  as  a 
Nationalist  movement,  pure  and  simple.  Its 
economic  theories  were  not  necessarily,  or  even 
probably,  those  which  claim  the  allegiance  of  the 
modern  Labour  movement.  It  had  not  seriously 
modified  the  concept  of  freedom  as  it  was  preached 
by  the  essentially  political  revolutionaries  of  the 
eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries.  Its  outlook 
and  ideals  were  not  manifestly  less  bourgeois  than 


70    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

those  of  Young  Ireland.  Alone  among  the  strictly 
Sinn  Fein  leaders — apart  from  representatives  of 
the  Labour  wing  who  still  acted  with  Sinn  Fein 
like  Madame  Markievicz — Mr.  Darrell  Figgis 
devoted  some  attention  to  social  problems.  Mr. 
de  Valera,  in  his  references  to  the  question  in  his 
speeches,  sought  rather  to  postpone  the  considera- 
tion of  Labour's  claims  until  after  the  achievement 
of  political  freedom. 

Though  a  measure  of  contact  was  still  main- 
tained, the  Irish  Labour  movement  had  already 
taken  steps  to  establish  a  strong  and  independent 
working-class  political  party  in  Ireland.  At  the 
Derry  Trades'  Union  Congress  in  August,  1917, 
a  scheme  was  adopted  for  organising  those  active 
members  of  the  trade  unions  who  desired  to 
promote  the  growth  of  a  political  Irish  Labour 
Party.  The  industrial  organisation  of  the  Irish 
Labour  movement,  though  still  weak,  had  now 
reached  a  point  which  provided  an  adequate  basis 
for  political  action.  Within  the  past  two  years 
trade  unionism  in  Ireland  had  undergone  a  very 
considerable  development.  The  most  powerful 
body  of  trade  unionists,  the  Irish  Branch  of  the 
National  Union  of  Railwaymen,  had  increased  its 
own  membership  many-fold,  and,  utilising  to  the 
full  its  unequalled  opportunities  for  carrying  pro- 
paganda into  every  part  of  the  country,  had 
given  a  great  impetus  to  the  trade  union  move- 
ment in  general.  A  basis  had  been  established  for 
a  "  triple  alliance  "  of  Irish  Labour  composed  of 
the  railwaymen,  the  transport  workers,  and  the 
agricultural  labourers — which  last  almost  entirely 
unorganised  class  had  been  made  the  special  objec- 
tive of  the  propaganda  conducted  by  the  railway- 
men.  Upon  this  foundation  of  expanding  trade 
unionism  was  established  the  political  Irish 
Labour  Party.  After  the  Derry  Congress  a 
circular    letter   was   addressed  by   the   National 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  71 

Executive  of  the  Congress  to  the  branches 
of  affiliated  unions  urging  them  to  adopt  the 
scheme  and  secure  as  large  a  number  of  subscrib- 
ing members  as  possible.  The  scheme  proposed 
that,  where  trade  unions  did  not  join  the  party 
collectively,  individuals  who  were  bona  fide 
members  of  trade  unions  should  be  eligible  for 
membership.  These  provisions  recognised,  on  the 
one  hand,  that  "  the  affiliated  unions  contain  a 
proportion  of  members  who  are  in  definite  active 
sympathy  with  the  Irish  Labour  Party,  but  having 
a  large  number  who,  while  vaguely  sympathetic, 
are  not  conscious  of  any  personal  association  with 
the  party;  "  and  on  the  other  hand  that  "  there  are 
societies  or  branches  of  societies  which  are  as  a 
whole  opposed  to  the  Irish  Labour  Party,  but 
which  contain  a  minority  who  desire  to  become 
actively  associated  with  us " — this  applying 
chiefly,  of  course,  to  North  East  Ulster.  Before 
the  end  of  1917  more  than  a  hundred  thousand 
members  had  already  subscribed;  a  very  remark- 
able number  if  industrial  conditions  in  Ireland 
are  borne  in  mind.  In  this  situation  industrial, 
as  apart  from  purely  political,  discontent  tended 
more  and  more  to  group  itself  behind  the  Irish 
Labour  Party  rather  than  behind  Sinn  Fein. 

Before  resuming  our  narrative  of  events  in  Ire- 
land during  the  sitting  of  the  Convention  we  must 
make  a  further  and  larger  digression,  and  devote 
some  space  to  the  Sinn  Fein  proposition  that  the 
case  of  Ireland  would  be  considered  at  the  Peace 
Conference.  "  By  this  they  (the  Sinn  Feiners) 
mean,"  wrote  Mr.  Bernard  Shaw,  "  that  when  the 
quarrel  between  the  Central  and  the  Ottoman 
Empires  on  the  one  side,  and  the  United  States  of 
America,  the  British  Empire,  the  French  Republic, 
Italy,  Japan,  &c.,  &c.,  on  the  other,  comes  to  be 
settled  the  plenipotentiaries  of  these  Powers,  at 
the  magic  words,  '  Gentlemen,  IRELAND !  '  will 


72    THE  CONVENTION   AND  SINN  FEIN 

rise  reverently,  sing  '  God  Save  Ireland,'  and  post- 
pone all  their  business  until  they  have  redressed 
the  wrongs  of  Rosaleen/  It  is  easy,  of  course,  to 
be  funny  at  the  expense  of  this  aspect  of  the  Sinn 
Fein  programme,  but  the  basis  of  the  Sinn  Fein 
claim  for  Irish  representation  at  the  Peace  Con- 
ference is  worth  examining.  When  Mr.  Asquith 
spoke  in  the  first  autumn  of  the  war  (in  Dublin, 
curiously  enough)  of  a  settlement  of  Europe  on 
national  lines — "  Room,"  he  said,  "  must  be  found, 
and  kept,  for  the  independent  existence  and  free 
development  of  the  smaller  nationalities " — he 
was  at  once  challenged  by  Mr.  Arthur  Griffith  and 
other  editors  of  Sinn  Fein  newspapers  to  apply 
that  principle  to  Ireland.  It  was  at  that  time,  how- 
ever, sufficient  to  say  that  Ireland,  whatever  her 
abstract  and  historical  rights,  as  compared  with 
those  of  Belgium,  Serbia,  Bohemia,  might  amount 
to,  had,  through  Mr.  John  Redmond,  given  her 
consent  to  be  regarded  as  a  British  and  domestic, 
not  as  an  international,  problem.  The  situation 
changed  when,  as  a  sequel  to  the  rising,  the  Sinn 
Fein  Republicans,  openly  separatist,  began  to  dis- 
place the  Redmondites  at  bye-elections  :  when,  in 
other  words,  it  seemed  possible  that,  were  full  con- 
sideration to  be  given  to  the  local  national  desire, 
acting  by  way  of  a  plebiscite,  an  Irish  Republic 
would  be  the  result.  Thus  Irishmen  read  in  the 
newspapers  that  the  peace  of  Europe  would  be  a 
nationalist  peace — a  peace,  that  is,  which  would 
include  not  only  the  restoration  of  Belgium  and 
Serbia,  but  also  the  creation  of  new  national 
States  and  the  cohesion  of  old  ones,  along  the  lines 
of  the  ascertained  will  of  majorities.  How  would 
an  Ireland,  voting  Sinn  Fein,  be  left  out  of  such 
a  peace  ?  If  the  Tcheko-Slovaks  should  have  inde- 
pendence— vide  the  Allied  terms  of  January,  1917 
— why  not  the  Irish  ?  And  as  for  the  question  of 
minorities,  were  not  the  Germans  in  Bohemia  more 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  73 

numerous  than  the  "British  Garrison"  in  Ire- 
land ?  It  was  argued  that  no  comparison  could  be 
made  beween  the  German  rule  of  subject  States 
and  me  British  government  of  Ireland  :  that  within 
the  British  Empire  "  room "  could — nay,  had — 
been  found  for  the  development,  etc.,  of  free 
nationalities ;  compromise  and  give  and  take  were 
possible  here  as  they  were  not  in  Central  Europe. 
But  if  the  Irish  persistently  held  the  contrary 
opinion,  what  then?  Great  Britain  had,  through 
authentic  spokesmen,  scrapped  not  only  the  Union- 
ist case  of  the  historical  necessity  of  the  absorption 
of  small  nations  by  large,  but  also  had  certainly 
weakened  the  Home  Rule  case,  which  laid  stress 
on  compromise  and  renunciations  for  the  average 
good;  the  principle  of  self-determination,  fully 
conceded,  would  permit  Ireland  to  go  to  the  devil 
in  her  own  fashion.  The  question  became  a  matter 
of  Irish  choice  purely,  not  a  matter  of  what  might 
be  wisest  for  Ireland,  or  best  for  the  Empire  as  a 
whole,  or  for  tne  world.  Mr.  Bernard  Shaw,  who 
did  not  believe  in  "  small  nationalities,"  and  had 
even  thrown  doubt  on  Belgian  integrity,  had  the 
right  of  remaining  unaffected  by  the  logic  of  Sinn 
Fein;  but  what  of  Mr.  Lloyd  George,  Mr.  Asquith, 
and  even  of  Mr.  Balfour  ? 

We  pass  from  the  logic  of  the  Sinn  Fein  pro- 
posal to  its  practical  possibilities.  Early  in  the 
war  the  Irish  extremists  of  the  Republican 
Brotherhood,  relying  on  the  policy  of  Casement, 
put  their  trust  in  German  victory.  Casement  in 
his  published  statements  did  not  attribute  to 
Germany  any  peculiar  devotion  to  the  principle 
of  nationality.  He  merely  argued  that  the  crea- 
tion of  an  independent  State  which  looked  out 
upon  the  Atlantic  would  be  to  the  interests  of  Ger- 
many. He  assumed  a  peace  dictated  by  Germany. 
In  that  case  Germany  would  raise  the  questions  of 
Ireland,  Egypt,   India  and  Poland;  not  for  the 


74   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

love  of  the  heaux  yeux  of  these  places  but  because 
it  would  pay  her  to  adopt  the  principles  of  national 
self-determination  where  they  affected  the  Entente 
countries.  When  it  became  evident  that  Germany 
would  not  dictate  the  peace  the  prophetic  part  of 
Casement's  writings  had  to  be  discarded.  Even 
before  the  rising  of  1916,  the  German  aim  was  a 
negotiated  peace,  a  peace  from  which  Germany 
might,  indeed,  secure  great  advantages,  but  which 
certainly  ruled  out  any  attempt  on  her  part  to 
weaken  Great  Britain  at  the  vital  point  of  Ire- 
land. There  was  still  the  chance  of  a  complete 
Allied  victory,  and  what  had  Sinn  Fein  tc 
expect  from  that?  Not  much  on  their  own 
showing,  so  long  as  they  represented  the  British 
professions  in  favour  of  small  nations  as  merely 
hypocritical !  In  any  evidence  there  might  be  as  to 
the  attitude  of  France,  in  most  of  the  evidence  as 
to  the  American  attitude,  lay  little  hope  enough. 
America  and  the  British  Dominions  would  not  go 
further  than  to  urge  Ireland's  right  to  Home  Rule 
of  the  Redmondite  pattern.  We  imagine  that 
''Prussian  Militarism  is  finally  destroyed,"  that 
Alsace-Lorraine,  German  Poland,  Belgium, 
Serbia  are  restored,  and  Austria  split  up; 
simultaneously  the  Irish  people  by  a  clear  majority 
claim  a  desire  for  independent  statehood.  Great 
Biitain  refuses  (as,  according  to  the  Sinn  Fein 
conception  of  her  character,  she  must  refuse)  to 
accede  to  that  desire.  The  net  gain  of  the  Sinn 
Feiners  is  the  mere  satisfaction  of  being  able  to 
say,  "  we  told  you  so."  There  remained  the  likeli- 
hood of  a  "  drawn  war,"  a  peace  of  bargain  and 
barter,  in  which  case  Great  Britain  would  surely 
speak  with  some  moral  mnsistency  when  she 
negatived  the  separatist  proposals  of  Sinn  Fein, 
She  might  quote  what  Herr  Kautsky,  the  German 
minority  Socialist,  said  in  reference  to  the  sugges- 


THE    SINN    FEIN   POLICY  75 

tions  of  Count  Reventlow  for  a  division  of  the 
British  Empire : — 

"  The  falling  apart  of  a  great  State  into  several 
small  States  is  particularly  alarming  if  it  is  a 
consequence  of  a  falling  off  in  its  power,  and  a 
consequence  of  its  increasing  democratisation, 
while  meanwhile  a  great  neighbouring  State  still 
exists  with  unbroken  power.  The  splitting  up  of 
the  great  democratic  State  into  several  smaller 
States,  then,  signifies  nothing  more  than  the  weak- 
ening of  its  democratic  power  of  defence  against 
its  neighbours'  weapon  of  power." 

In  a  sense,  however,  Ireland  has  already  "  gone 
to  the  Peace  Conference."  The  terms  upon  which 
the  war  should  be  concluded  have  been  publicly 
debated  among  the  Governments  and  parties  of 
the  belligerent  Powers ;  in  these  debates  the  name 
of  Ireland  has  been  mentioned  more  than  once; 
and  it  was  undoubtedly  owing  to  the  growth  of 
Sinn  Fein  that  the  settlement  of  the  Irish  prob- 
lem took  on  the  character  of  a  "  war  necessity  " 
for  the  British  Government.  The  German  Govern- 
ment, the  Russian  Bolsheviks  and  a  section  at  least 
of  American  opinion  all  asked  "  What  of  Ireland  V 
as  a  test  of  Great  Britain's  sincerity  in  proposing 
to  redraw  the  map  of  Europe.  It  was  an  awkward 
question,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  for  British  states- 
manship. Although  neither  President  Wilson  in 
his  various  messages,  nor  the  Pope  in  any  of  his 
peace  appeals,  alluded  to  Ireland,  the  general  prin- 
ciples which  they  had  enunciated  could  be 
interpreted  in  the  Sinn  Fein  sense  of  a  plebiscite. 
Certainly  the  right  of  Ireland  to  a  liberal  measure 
of  Home  Rule  might  be  deduced  from  the 
President's  pronouncements.  As  regards  other 
peace  proposals,  those  of  the  German  majority 
Socialists  mentioned  Ireland  by  name;  and  here 
the  solution  of  self-government  within  the  Empire 


76    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

was  openly  suggested.  The  German  Socialists  re- 
jected the  solution  of  independence  for  subject 
nationalities  of  both  Allied  and  enemy  Powers. 
From  Italy  and  France  no  utterance  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Ireland  has  been  reported.  The  British 
Labour  Party  supported  the  Georgian  proposals 
of  a  Convention.  On  the  other  hand,  the  left  wing 
of  English  Radicalism,  the  pacificist,  intellec- 
tuals, revolutionists,  had  no  objection  in  theory  to 
the  complete  independence  for  Ireland.  But,  as 
their  attitude  on  the  question  of  the  Slav  nation- 
alities in  Austria-Hungary  showed,  they  objected 
to  a  further  deluge  of  blood  for  such  ends.  The 
Russian  position  was  somewhat  similar.  Trot- 
sky and  Lenin  proposed  a  peace  of  renunciation, 
and  were  themselves  ready  to  renounce  portions  of 
historical  Russia  in  the  name  of  the  principle  of 
self-determination.  But  they  hardly  expected  the 
Central  and  Entente  Powers  to  follow  their  ex- 
ample to  the  full.  "  You  are  too  logical,"  an 
English  newspaper  correspondent  told  Trotsky. 
"  No,"  Trotsky  replied,  "  if  we  were  logical  we 
would  declare  war  against  England  on  Ireland's 
account." 

In  January,  1918,  both  the  British  Premier  and 
the  American  President  made  important  state- 
ments on  war  aims,  in  the  course  of  which  it 
appeared  that  the  idea  of  breaking  up  the  Austro- 
Hungarian  Empire  into  independent  fragments 
had  been  abandoned.  Here  again  the  Home  Rule 
solution  appeared.  It  is  at  the  time  of  writing  a 
far  cry  to  that  disintegration  of  Empires,  that 
"  Russian  "  peace  of  mutual  renunciations,  which 
alone  will  bring  the  establishment  of  an  Irish 
Republic  within  the  sphere  of  practical  politics. 
Sinn  Fein,  it  is  conceded,  has  caused  discomfort  to 
British  statesmen,  and  perhaps  the  Rebellion  has 
even  reacted  upon  a  foreign  audience.  But  if  Ire- 
land were  truly  an  acute  international  problem 


THE    SINN    FEIN   POLICY  77 

she  would  be,  with  Alsace-Lorraine  and  Poland, 
one  of  the  obstacles  to  peace — and  this,  of  course, 
she  is  not. 

After  the  Sinn  Fein  Convention  and  the  scare 
at  the  beginning  of  November  the  public  activity 
of  the  Party  appeared  to  be  somewhat  diminished 
for  the  remainder  of  the  year.  Mr.  de  Valera  and 
other  leaders  addressed  one  or  two  meetings,  but 
for  the  most  part  the  remainder  of  the  year  was 
devoted  quietly  to  organisation  work.  In  the 
course  of  November  Sinn  Fein  extended  its  in- 
fluence in  a  new  direction.  A  circular  was 
addressed  to  the  clergy  of  various  denominations 
throughout  Ireland  setting  forth  that  "  the  grave 
danger  of  food  shortage  during  the  coming  winter 
and  until  next  harvest,  owing  to  excessive  exporta- 
tion of  Irish  food  products,  the  consumption  by  the 
large  garrison  now  stationed  in  Ireland,  and  the 
submarine  obstacle  to  importation,  imposes  a 
common  duty  upon  us  all,  and  has  led  the  Sinn 
Fein  Executive  to  found  a  Food  Committee  to 
organise  and  co-ordinate  local  effort,  to  avert  a 
repetition  of  the  calamity  of  1847,  by  retaining  in 
Ireland  sufficient  food  for  the  entire  population, 
and  making  arrangements  to  have  it  available  in 
time  and  measure  necessary  for  distribution  in 
Dublin  and  other  cities,  in  County  Donegal,  and 
wherever  else  famine  is  to  be  dreaded."  The  cir- 
cular proceeded  to  invite  information  as  to  local 
stocks  and  kindred  matters  "  for  our  guidance  in 
constructing  a  scheme  embracing  the  whole 
country."  The  Food  Committee  continued  the 
activity  thus  begun,  and  its  intervention  in  the 
question  of  food  shortage,  which  was  exciting  some 
public  concern,  assisted  materially  in  promoting 
the  popularity  of  Sinn  Fein. 

Towards  the  end  of  1917  the  Irish  Unionist  news- 
papers began  once  more  to  write  gravely  about 
"  the  state  of  Ireland."    They  were  moved  to  pro- 


78    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

tests  by  a  new  manifestation  of  "unrest"  which 
had  made  its  appearance  in  those  districts  in  the 
south  and  west  where  the  Sinn  Fein  influence  was 
predominant.  About  the  beginning  of  December 
bands  of  masked  and  armed  men  began  to  raid 
country  houses  and  farms  by  night  in  search  of 
arms,  which  they  seized.  In  the  course  of  Decem- 
ber and  January  a  number  of  raids  of  this  nature 
took  place,  sometimes  having  as  their  objective  the 
rifles  of  soldiers  home  on  leave.  In  the  majority 
of  cases  no  violence  was  offered,  but  in  one  such 
affair  in  Tipperary  an  old  man  was  killed  in 
endeavouring  to  resist  the  seizure  of  his  son's  rifle.. 
In  January  an  attack  was  made  on  a  police  post 
near  Ennis  in  County  Clare.  Two  more  remark- 
able incidents  occurred — in  Donegal  and  Cork — 
when  bands  of  masked  and  armed  men  forcibly 
rescued  deserters  from  the  custody  of  military 
escorts. 

At  the  beginning  of  1918  a  new  opportunity 
offered  for  Sinn  Fein  to  try  its  strength  against 
the  Parliamentary  Party,  this  time  in  Ulster.  A 
vacancy  occurred  in  the  representation  of  South 
Armagh,  a  Nationalist  seat  in  one  of  the  "  six 
counties,"  with  a  strong  Unionist  minority.  Sinn 
Fein  had  now  won  seats  in  all  the  three  southern 
provinces,  and,  after  some  slight  hesitation,  it 
decided  to  put  to  the  test  the  effect  of  its  propa- 
ganda, which  had  been  actively  conducted  through- 
out the  northern  province,  upon  the  Nationalists 
of  Ulster.  The  Parliamentary  Party's  candidate 
was  Mr.  Patrick  Donnelly,  a  Newry  solicitor  of 
much  local  popularity.  Sinn  Fein  selected  as  its 
candidate  Dr.  Patrick  McCartan,  who  was  at  the 
time  under  detention  at  Halifax,  Nova  Scotia, 
where  he  had  been  stopped  while  endeavouring  to 
make  his  way  back  to  Ireland.  Dr.  McCartan  had 
gone  to  America  in  the  capacity  of  "  Ambassador 
of  the  Irish  Republic  to  the  United  States  " ;  and 


THE    SINN    FEIN    POLICY  79 

here  we  may  conveniently  glance  for  a  moment 
at  the  relations  of  Sinn  Fein  with  that 
country. 

Under  date  "  Washington,  23rd  July,  1917,"  the 
New  York  World  announced  that  "  President  Wil- 
son received  to-day  two  communications  from  the 
Sinn   Fein  organisation  setting  forth  plans  for 
American  aid  to  obtain  complete  independence  and 
the  establishment  of  a  Republic  for  Ireland.  The 
same  two  communications  were  also  delivered  to 
Congress."    The  World's  message  added  that  one 
communication  was  signed  by  Dr.  McCartan  "  on 
behalf  of  the  Provisional  Government  of  the  Irish 
Republic  " ;  the  other  by  twenty-six  officers,  headed 
by  Mr.  de  Valera — ''  of  the  forces  formed  inde- 
pendently in  Ireland  to  secure  the  complete  libera- 
tion of  the  Irish  nation."     Dr.  McCartan's  letter 
reminded  the  President  and  Congress  of  the  part 
which  Irishmen  had  played  in  the  development  of 
the  United  States  and  their  defence  in  time  of 
war,  and  recounted  that  Ireland  had  maintained 
a  struggle  for  independence  for  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  years.    It  questioned  England's  good  faith  at 
any  time  in  granting  genuine  Home  Rule,  and 
asserted  that  Irish  Unionists  "  were  encouraged 
by  the  Royal  Family  and  aristocracy  of  England 
to  threaten  civil  war  rather  than  submit  to  a  Home 
Rule  Government."     It  declared  that  recent  elec- 
tions   in    Ireland    had    demonstrated    anew    the 
established  fact  that  the  Republicans  represented 
the  vast  majority  of  the  people  of  Ireland,  and  con- 
cluded : — "  We  have  no  doubt  about  the  good-will 
of  the  American   Government  and  people,   and, 
while  prepared  when  the  opportunity  arises  to 
assert  our  independence  by  the  one  force  that  com- 
mands universal  respect,  and  to  accept  aid  from 
any  quarter  to  that  end,  we  hope  Americans  will 
see  their  way  to  aid  in  doing  for  Ireland  what  they 
did  for  Cuba.    We  feel  that  they  will  assist  in  re- 


80    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

paying  to  Ireland  the  sacrifices  and  contributions 
made  by  her  sons  in  the  cause  of  America." 

The  next  public  news  of  Dr.  McCartan  came  on 
October  24th,  when  a  Renter  message  from  New 
York  announced  the  arrest  there  by  the  Secret 
Police  of  Baron  von  Recklinghausen,  a  Ger- 
man agent  who  was  declared  to  have  intimate 
associations  with  Sinn  Fein,  and  of  William 
Mellowes,  who  led  the  rising  in  Galway  in  Easter 
Week,  1916,  and,  after  hiding  in  a  remote  part  of 
Connemara,  ultimately  succeeded  in  making  his 
escape  to  America  by  a  South  of  Ireland  port.  It 
was  simultaneously  announced  that  the  Canadian 
authorities  had  arrested  Dr.  McCartan  at  Halifax 
on  an  outward  bound  ship  in  the  port.  The  New 
York  message  declared  that  all  three  men  were 
implicated  in  a  plot  to  bring  about  another  re- 
bellion in  Ireland,  and  that  the  American  author- 
ities, learning  of  Mellowes's  association  with  Dr. 
McCartan,  whom  he  proposed  to  follow  to  Ireland, 
advised  the  Canadian  authorities,  who  then 
effected  the  arrest  at  Halifax.  These  arrests,  the 
New  York  Times  asserted,  frustrated  a  rebellion 
planned  for  Easter,  1918, 

Dr.  McCartan,  before  this  adventure,  had  been 
a  dispensary  doctor  in  County  Tyrone,  and  had 
been  identified  with  the  Nationalist  Volunteers 
from  their  inception.  He  lent  his  motor-car  for 
the  Larne  gun-running  exploit  of  1914,  when  the 
Ulster  Volunteers  imported  quantities  of  arms  and 
ammunition,  justifying  his  action  on  that  occa- 
sion on. the  ground  that  he  was  ready  to  assist  any 
effort  to  secure  arms  for  Irishmen  of  any  section. 
After  the  Easter  rising  of  1916  he  disappeared  for 
some  time.  Returning  to  Tyrone  at  the  end  of 
1916,  in  the  following  February  he  was  among 
those  deported  to  England,  whence  he  returned  to 
take  part  in  the  Longford  election,  afterwards 
working  his  passage  to  America  as  "  Ambassador 


THE    SINN    FEIN   POLICY  81 

of  the  Irish  Republic,"  as  an  ordinary  seaman. 
During  the  South  Armagh  election  t^inn  Fein 
speakers  contrasted  this  incident  with  Mr.  T.  P. 
O'Connor's  mission  to  the  United  States  in  a 
British  cruiser.  Entering  the  field  in  the  election 
somewhat  late  Sinn  Fein  conducted  a  whirlwind 
campaign  in  the  constituency,  under  the  personal 
direction  of  Mr.  de  Valera.  Large  numbers  of 
Irish  Volunteers  were  drafted  into  the  district. 
Sinn  Fein  suffered  from  the  fact  that,  in  an  elec- 
tion held  in  the  precincts  of  the  ecclesiastical 
capital  of  Ireland,  and  under  the  immediate 
shadow  of  Cardinal  Logue's  warning  issued  a 
month  earlier.  Dr.  McCartan's  candidature  re- 
ceived little  or  no  open  support  from  the  priest- 
hood, who,  however,  were  not  conspicuously  active 
on  the  side  of  the  Parliamentary  Party.  The 
Nationalists  also  brought  the  full  force  of  the 
party  machine  to  bear  in  the  election  under  the 
guidance  of  Mr.  Dillon  and  Mr.  Devlin.  The 
Unionist  vote,  numbering  more  than  a  thousand 
on  a  register  of  about  six  thousand,  was  recog- 
nised as  capable  of  playing  a  decisive  part  in  the 
election.  Officially  no  action  was  taken  by  the 
Ulster  Unionist  Council,  but  an  unofficial  Unionist 
and  temperance  candidate  was  put  forward — it 
was  suggested  with  the  Machiavellian  object  of  in- 
directly assisting  Dr.  McCartan's  candidature  and, 
in  the  event  of  his  success,  providing  the  Ulster 
Unionists  with  a  new  argument  against  Home 
Rule.  Under  pressure  of  the  general  Unionist 
opinion,  however,  this  candidature  was  withdrawn 
before  the  polling  day.  The  majority  of  Unionists 
in  the  constituency  abstained  from  voting;  those 
who  did  vote  voted  for  the  Parliamentary  Party's 
candidate.  After  an  exciting  contest,  which  pro- 
duced no  new  arguments,  the  result  of  the  poll 
was  declared  on  February  2nd.  It  showed  that 
Sinn  Fein  had  suffered  its  first  electoral  defeat. 


82    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

Mr.  Donnelly,  the  Parliamentary  Party's  can- 
didate, headed  the  poll  with  a  majority  of  more 
than  a  thousand — a  majority  which  exceeded 
all  expectations,  and  could  not  be  ascribed  to 
the  Unionist  vote.  The  South  Armagh  election 
result,  declared  twelve  months  almost  to  a  day 
since  Sinn  Fein's  first  victory  in  South  Ros- 
common, came  at  a  time  when  the  deliberations  of 
the  Irish  Convention  had  reached  an  acutely 
critical  stage  and  the  Government  had  decided 
upon  intervention. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    CONVENTION. 

Humanly,  if  not  politically,  speaking,  the  Irish 
Convention  was  a  representative  body  of  the 
nation.  All  types  of  Irishmen,  if  not  all  the 
opinions  of  Irishmen,  were  to  be  found  at  the 
meetings  at  Regent  House,  Trinity  College,  and  in 
Belfast  and  Cork.  "  How  many  orators  there 
are,"  wrote  an  Englishman  the  other  day  as  he 
contemplated  the  historical  portraits  in  the  Dublin 
National  Gallery — "  how  many  duellists,  patriots, 
rebels  of  whom  nothing  but  their  personal  attrac- 
tiveness is  remembered."*  The  normal  Irishman, 
this  English  observer  added,  does  not  seem  to  be 
creative ;  but  he  is  dramatic  and  expressive,  highly 
endowed  with  wit  and  social  gifts.  It  was  a 
generalisation  of  which  the  Irish  Convention  re- 
minded one.  That  this  assembly  had  any  general 
quality  of  greatness  no  one  could  pretend.  But  it 
was  rich  in  personality,  in  men  of  versatile  natures 
whose  names  would  reach  posterity  not  in  books, 
but  in  the  oral  traditions  of  their  country. 

Perhaps  a  score  of  the  ninety  odd  members  had 
a  topical  reputation — were  persons,  that  is  to  say, 
with  whom  the  newspapers  had  established  a  cer- 
tain familiarity ;  and  of  this  score,  three,  let  us  say, 
were  assured  already  of  a  place  in  history.  These 
were  Mr.  Redmond,  Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  Mr. 
George  Russell — the  one  a  leading  Parliamen- 
tarian of  his  time,  the  other  an  initiator  in  the  field 
of  social  reform,,  the  third  the  poet  "  iE,"  comrade 
of  George  Moore  and  Yeats  in  Irish  literary  enter- 
prise, who  in  rectent  years  had  appeared  as  a 

*  Explorations   and    Reflections.       By  an  Englishman.      Dublin  : 
Maunsel  &  Co. 


84    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

pamphleteer  and  a  political  idealist.  To  most 
Englishmen  Mr.  Redmond  for  his  Parliamentary 
tact  and  eloquence,  Sir  Horace  Plunkett  for 
his  public  spirit  and  leadership  in  the  agri- 
cultural co-operative  movement,  represented  what 
was  most  distinguished  in  contemporary  Ireland. 

Mr.  Redmond,  now  in  his  67th  year,  had  entered 
the  House  of  Commons  in  1881  as  member  for 
New  Ross.  He  had  stood  by  Parnell  during  the 
"  Split ''  of  1891,  and  he  subsequently  led  a 
minority  of  the  National  Party  with  tact  and 
eloquence.  When  the  parliamentary  movement  re- 
united it  was  under  his  Chairmanship.  Always 
regarded  at  heart  as  a  Moderate — certain  of  his 
speeches  in  America  notwithstanding — Mr.  Red- 
mond, owing  to  his  attitude  on  the  war,  enjoyed  at 
the  time  of  the  summons  to  the  Convention  a  very 
considerable  popularity  among  his  Unionist  fellow 
countrymen.  "  He  had  fought  for  Home  Rule  for 
thirty  years,"  says  a  German  admirer,  the  trans- 
lator of  Synge,  "  and  had  directed  his  life  to  turn- 
ing a  dream  into  a  reality.  .  .  .  The  name  Red- 
mond sounds  hard  and  weighty;  and  hard, 
stubborn  and  weighty  is  the  man." 

Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  a  younger  man  by  three 
years,  had  led  a  varied  life.  The  son  of  an  Anglo- 
Irish  peer,  he  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Oxford, 
and  had  engaged  during  his  youth  in  cattle  ranch- 
ing in  America ;  he  returned  to  Ireland  to  promote 
agricultural  co-operation,  was  for  a  short  time  a 
Unionist  M.P.,  when  he  displeased  the  extremists 
of  his  party,  but  won  the  confidence  of  Mr.  Balfour 
and  the  leaders  of  English  Conservatism.  He  was 
Vice-President  of  the  Irish  Department  of  Agri- 
culture from  1899-1907.  During  the  Ulster  crisis 
he  threw  out  many  suggestions  for  compromise  in 
letters  and  addresses,  which  won  a  great  measure 
of  attention  from  the  Press.  In  1914  he  made  a 
striking   proposal   that   Ulster  Unionists  should 


THE  CONVENTION  85 

consent  to  give  the  Home  Rule  Parliament  a  tempo- 
rary trial,  exclusion,  if  they  wished  for  it,  to  take 
place  after  a  fixed  number  of  years.  The  proposal 
was,  however,  rejected  by  the  party  concerned. 

"  ^  "  too  had  his  fervent  admirers  outside  of 
Ireland  as  well  as  within  it — and  not  only  among 
readers  of  poetry  and  students  of  mysticism,  but 
also  among  statesmen  and  economists.  An  Ulster- 
man  and  a  Protestant  by  birth,  by  poetic  tempera- 
ment a  sympathiser  with  the  hero  legends  of  Gaelic 
Ireland,  long  editorship  of  an  agricultural 
journal,  the  Irish  Homestead,  had  brought  him 
into  contact  with  the  practical  realities  of  the 
social  and  political  situation  in  his  country.  In 
his  National  Being,  published  in  1916,  he  had 
sought  to  describe  an  order  of  society  in  which 
democracy  would  prevail  in  the  economic  life  of 
Ireland,  and  aristocratic  ideals  in  her  political 
and  intellectual  life.  The  book  was  an  "  imagina- 
tive meditation  on  the  state  of  Ireland";  but  it 
contained  many  very  "  actual "  suggestions  with 
regard  to  systems  of  representative  government, 
the  proposals  set  out  in  Chapter  XIV.  for  repre- 
sentation of  particular  interests  in  the  Irish 
government  reminding  one  of  P.  J.  Proudhon's 
application  of  his  famous  "  federative  principle." 
In  his  pamphlet  of  1917,  Thoughts  for  an  Irish 
Convention,  Mr.  Russell  addressed  himself  more 
directly  to  the  actual  crisis  in  Irish  affairs.  After 
explaining  with  a  notable  impartiality  the  point 
of  view  of  the  Sinn  Feiners,  the,  Nationalist  Parlia- 
mentarians and  the  Unionists,  he  reached  the  con- 
clusion that  the  natural  compromise  for  Irishmen 
to  adopt  would  be  the  solution  of  Dominion  Self- 
Government  with  fiscal  liberty.  The  pamphlet, 
if  it  did"  not  carry  conviction  to  the  Ulster 
minority,  created  a  remarkable  impression  among 
the  Unionists  in  the  south  of  Ireland,  and  among 
Nationalists  of  every  variety;  and  it  seemed  that 


86    THE  CONVENTION   AND  SINN  FEIN 

the  Government  had  taken  a  very  proper  course 
when  subsequently  Mr.  Russell's  name  appeared 
in  the  list  of  the  fifteen  nominated  members  of 
the  Irish  Convention. 

Among  the  politicians  present  at  the  Conven- 
tion next  in  importance  to  Mr.  Redmond  was  Mr. 
Joseph  Devlin,  the  Nationalist  member  for  West 
Belfast,  whose  future  as  Irish  leader  had,  before 
the  rise  of  the  Sinn  Fein  movement,  seemed  to  be 
assured.  To  no  other  man,  personally,  did  the 
success  of  the  Convention  mean  so  much  as  to  Mr. 
Devlin.  Through  it  he  might  regain  a  lost  ascend- 
ancy in  Irish  politics;  failure  here  would  involve 
in  all  probability  the  final  conquest  of  Ireland  by 
Sinn  Fein  or  some  new  group  of  politicians,  and 
the  extinction  of  the  political  career  of  a  man,  un- 
questionably able  and  energetic,  and  not  yet  past 
his  prime.  But  except  for  Mr.  Redmond  and  Mr. 
Devlin  the  Convention  contained  few  parliament- 
arians of  note. 

The  Ulster  Unionist  Council  had  decided,  wisely 
enough,  to  present  its  case  through  persons  of 
local  standing  rather  than  through  the  Orange 
M.Ps.,  only  one  of  whom,  Mr.  H.  T.  Barrie, 
appeared  at  the  Convention.  The  abler  sort  of 
Northern  Protestant  does  not  enter  Parliament. 
That  he  has  little  talent  or  inclination  for  politics 
is  shown,  significantly,  by  the  fact  that  the  trusted 
leader  of  the  "Ulster''  cause  is  a  Dubliner,  Sir 
Edward  Carson.  Lord  Londonderry,  Colonel 
Wallace,  a  well-known  Orangeman,  Mr.  Knight, 
and  Sir  George  Clarke,  composed  with  Mr.  Barrie, 
M.P.,  the  important  delegation  from  the  Ulster 
Unionist  Council;  and  it  was  upon  their 
action  that  all  eyes  were  turned.  This  Council 
had  conducted  the  fight  against  Home  Rule 
during  the  years  previous  to  the  war,  and 
these  men  had  organised  the  Covenant  and  had 
supported  the  arming  and  drilling  of  the  Ulster 


THE   CONVENTION  87 

Volunteers.  Would  they  now  abandon  that 
position  in  deference  to  the  alleged  Imperial 
necessity  of  an  Irish  settlement  ?  In  the  south  of 
Ireland  little  was  known,  personally,  of  the  five 
men.  But  it  was  reported  that  in  Sir  A.  McDowell, 
a  solicitor  with  a  large  Northern  practice  and  one 
of  the  Government  nominees,  "  Ulster  "  had  found 
an  advocate  of  unusual  power.  Sir  A.  McDowell, 
as  it  happened,  was  prevented  by  illness  from 
attending  many  meetings  of  the  Convention,  and 
the  burden  of  presenting  the  case  of  the  Northern 
Unionists  fell  chiefly  on  Lord  Londonderry,  a 
descendant  of  Castlereagh,  the  promoter  of  the 
Union,  and  upon  Mr.  Pollock,  the  able  spokesman 
of  Northern  capitalism,  a  delegate  from  the  Belfast 
Chamber  of  Commerce. 

There  were  present,  besides  the  above-named, 
others  who  had  been  associated  with  the  Carsonite 
movement  of  1912-14,  and  were  still  in  thorough 
sympathy  with  the  statement  of  the  Covenant. 
Several  Chairmen  of  County  Councils  and 
Corporations  in  Ulster,  including  the  Duke  of 
Abercorn  from  Tyrone,  were  also  representative 
Unionists  of  the  northern  type.  Dr.  Crozier  of 
Armagh,  the  Primate,  had  joined  in  the  No- 
Surrender  Campaign  before  the  war,  and  another 
stern  Covenanter  was  Dr.  Irwin,  the  Moderator 
of  the  General  Assembly  of  Presbyterians.  The 
Ulster  Unionists  composed  a  comparatively  small 
minority  of  the  whole  Convention;  but  they  had 
the  Government's  assurance  that  they  entered  it 
without  prejudice  to  their  previous  declaration  of 
non  fossumus.  The  Southern  Unionists  acted 
separately,  and  the  Labour  delegates,  with  one  ex- 
ception, were  not  of  the  Covenanting  disposition. 

Of  the  seven  Labour  delegates  two  served  on  the 
Grand  Committee  of  the  Convention.  These  were 
Mr.  Robert  Waugh  and  Alderman  McCarron. 
Mr.  Waugh,  the  representative  of  the  Belfast  and 


88    THE  CONVENTION   AND  SINN  FEIN 

District  Building  Trades  Federation,  was  a  dele- 
gate of  wide  experience  in  labour  affairs,  having 
earlier  been  Organising  Secretary  of  the  Amal- 
gamated and  General  Union  of  Carpenters  and 
Joiners.  He  was  appointed  one  of  the  Irish  repre- 
sentatives to  the  Labour  Party  Conference  at 
Nottingham  in  January,  1918,  and  some  years  be- 
fore had  represented  Ireland  at  a  similar  Con- 
ference in  Glasgow.  Alderman  James  McCarron 
was  leader  of  the  Labour  representatives  in  Derry 
Corporation,  and  Chairman  of  the  Public  Health 
Committee.  He  had  long  been  the  Irish  delegate 
of  the  Amalgamated  Society  of  Tailors,  and  was 
a  well-known  speaker  at  Trade  Union  Congresses. 
A  man  of  advanced  views  on  questions  of  social 
reform,  he  was  a  strong  supporter  of  Mr.  Red- 
mond, but  a  determined  opponent  of  the  partition 
scheme.  Of  the  other  five  Labour  delegates,  Mr. 
H.  T.  Whitley,  a  member  of  the  Belfast  Branch 
of  the  Typographical  Union,  and  one  of  the  lead- 
ing trade  unionists  in  the  city,  represented  in  the 
Convention  the  Belfast  and  District  Trades'  Coun- 
cil, and  Mr.  C.  McKay,  also  of  Belfast,  the  Ship- 
building and  Engineering  Trades'  Federation.  Mr. 
J.  Murphy,  of  Dublin,  representing  the  Irish 
Branch  of  the  National  Union  of  Railwaymen, 
was  one  of  the  most  active  officials  of  that  Union, 
which  in  recent  months  had  very  greatly  increased 
its  membership  and  influence  all  over  Ireland, 
especially  in  Ulster.  Mr.  John  Hanna,  represent- 
ing the  Belfast  shipyard  workers,  was,  perhaps, 
the  only  Labour  delegate  of  whom  it  could  fairly 
be  said  that  he  was  a  politician  first  and  a  labour 
man  afterwards.  A  foreman  in  Harland  and 
Wolff's  yards,  Mr.  Hanna  was  President  of  the 
Queen's  Island  Unionist  Club,  and  presided  at  the 
mass  meeting  of  Ulster  trade  unionists  held  in  the 
Ulster  Hall  on  April  29th,  1914,  to  protest  against 
the  passing  of  the  Home  Rule  Bill.    Somewhat  in 


THE   CONVENTION  89 

the  same  category,  on  the  opposite  side,  one  might 
place  Mr.  Thomas  Lundon,  M.P.  (Land  and 
Labour  Association)  a  member  of  the  Nationalist 
Parliamentary  Party,  who  was  to  be  regarded  as 
more  or  less  representative  of  the  interests  of 
labour  in  the  rural  districts. 

Chairmen  of  County  and  Urban  Councils, 
Mayors  and  Lord  Mayors  were  a  large  block  of  the 
assembly.  These,  except  as  voters,  did  not,  per- 
haps, count  for  much ;  and  owing  to  recent  changes 
in  the  opinion  of  the  south,  their  representative 
right  might  have  been  called  in  question.  Most 
were  at  the  outset  of  the  proceedings  strong 
"  party  "  men.  But  from  the  historically  National- 
ist point  of  view  how  suitable  it  was  that 
(as  actually  happened)  a  Byrne  should  come  from 
Wicklow,  a  Reilly  from  Cavan,  a  Power  from 
Waterford,  a  MacMurrough  Kavanagh  from  Car- 
low  !  The  names  had  tribal  and  regionalist  asso- 
ciations running  down  the  centuries.  If  the  Union- 
ists of  Tyrone  produced  a  British  Duke  for  their 
representative,  the  Nationalists  of  Carlow  pro- 
vided the  Convention  with  a  descendant  of  the 
ancient  kings  of  Leinster,  a  landlord  and  a  Pro- 
testant, who  was  also  a  Home  Ruler.  Dublin  Cor- 
poration sent  to  the  Convention  a  man  of  eloquence 
in  Councillor  O'Neill,  Lord  Mayor  of  the  city,  the 
only  member  at  Regent  House  who  had  suffered 
arrest  in  connection  with  the  Rebellion.  Coun- 
cillor O'Neill  had  been  arrested — albeit  in  error — 
during  the  martial  regime  of  Sir  John  Maxwell. 
"  There  was  a  man,"  he  told  his  fellow  townsmen 
on  the  occasion  of  his  election  to  the  Mayoral 
Chair,  "  who  was  despised  and  rejected  by  men. 

.    .     .     The  soldiers  spat  upon  him 

He  stands  before  you  now." 

The  representatives  of  the  Southern  Unionist 
Organisation  were  well  chosen  men  of  tolerant 
disposition,  but  among  them  shone  no  bright  parti- 


90    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

cular  star,  although  they  had  called  upon  an  ex- 
Cabinet  Minister  in  the  person  of  Lord  Midleton, 
who  played  a  very  important  part  in  the  delibera- 
tions.    More  or  less  of  Southern  Unionist  com- 
plexion were  such  able  and  distinguished  Irish- 
men  as  Lord  Dunraven,   Lord   Mayo   and  Lord 
Oranmore  and  Brown  (the  last  two  representatives 
of  the  Irish  Peers),  the  Provost  of  Trinity,  Dr. 
Mahaffy,  and  Dr.  Bernard,  the  Protestant  Arch- 
bishop   of   Dublin.      Lord  Dunraven,    politician, 
traveller,    author,    sportsman,     reforming    land- 
owner, was  one  of  the  several  old  but  still  active 
figures  of  the  Convention.     After  presiding  with 
success  at  the  Irish  Land  Conference  of  1902,  he 
had  endeavoured  to  promote  a  settlement  of  the 
political  question  along  the  lines  of  Devolution, 
and  from  the  Tory  Imperialist  standpoint.    Lord 
Oranmore,  a  Conservative  and  former  Unionist, 
had,  previous  to  the  assembling  of  the  Conven- 
tion, expressed  the  opinion  that   if  Home  Rule 
were  granted  it  should  be  in  its  widest  form  next 
to  separation,  namely,  Repeal  of  the  Union.     His 
speeches  on  Irish  affairs  in  the  House  of  Lords 
had  always  been  characterised  by  a  remarkable 
independence  and  originality.    Rev.  Dr.  Mahaffy, 
wit,  courtier,  scholar,  appeared  at  the  Convention 
as  the  representative  of  the  Elizabethan  institu- 
tion of  Trinity  College.    He  it  was  who  had  said 
that  in  Ireland  the  "  inevitable  never  happens,  the 
impossible  always  occurs."     Very  hostile  to  the 
Young  Ireland  of  the  Gaelic  League  and  a  bitter 
commentator  on  the  Rebellion — one  who  could  see 
nothing  in  the  events  of  '16  but  an  envious  assault 
of  the  "  have-nots  "  upon  the  "  haves"  (he  believed 
that  Pearse  aimed  at  seizing  the  Provostship  of 
Trinity  College) — Dr.  Mahaffy  was  frequently  ridi- 
culed   by   Nationalists   as    supreme    type   of    the 
Anglo-Irish  shoneen.    But  with  his  clever  tongue 
he  gives  back  as  good  as  he  got ;  nor  can  a  man  so 


THE  CONVENTION  91 

brilliant,  a  man  familiar  with  the  cosmopolitan 
societies  of  Europe,  be  really  suspected  of  sharing 
the  political  or  religious  views  of  the  narrowest 
sort  of  Irish  Protestant.  Indeed  it  is  suspected 
that  the  Provost  combined  with  his  "  superiority '' 
to  Irish  ideals  a  very  hearty  contempt  for  the 
modern  British  effort  to  govern  his  country. 

A  very  notable  feature  of  the  Convention  was 
the  amount  of  ability  which  resided  in  the  dele- 
gations from  the  two  Churches.  Two  of  the  four 
Roman  Catholic  Bishops,  Dr.  Kelly  and  Dr. 
O'Donnell,  were  well-known  Redmondites,  where- 
as Dr.  Harty  and  Dr.  MacRory  represented  fairly 
accurately  the  feeling  of  the  Independent 
Nationalists.  Dr  Kelly,  a  close  personal  friend 
of  Mr.  Redmond,  belonged  to  that  division  of  the 
clerical  party  which  had  openly  denounced  the  Re- 
bellion of  Easter  Week,  and  which  desired  to  recon- 
cile the  Home  Rule  claim  with  Imperial  interests. 
A  man  of  views,  a  student  of  Irish  statistics  and 
finance,  he  had  been  for  many  years  in  close  con- 
tact with  public  affairs,  having  sat  on  the  Royal 
Commission  on  Irish  Finance  (1910).  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Cashel,  Dr.  Harty,  another  of  the  May- 
■nooth  delegates  represented  a  similar  tendency  of 
opinion  in  the  Church.  A  different  type  was  the 
Bishop  of  Raphoe — an  O'Donnell  from  Tyrconnell 
— an  older  man,  the  possessor  of  many  popular 
qualities,  more  of  a  democrat  and  an  enthusiast, 
a  very  keen  politician.  Dr.  O'Donnell,  although 
a  leading  figure  of  Mr.  Redmond's  United  Irish 
League,  had  won  the  affection  of  "  Irish " 
Irelanders  by  his  energetic  efforts  in  the  North- 
West  for  the  preservation  of  the  Irish  language. 
He  was  himself  the  one  native  speaker  at  the  Con- 
vention. Being  also  a  learned  theologian  he  did 
good  service  to  Nationalists  when  during  the 
debates  Orangemen  raised  the  question  of  their 
religious  objections  to  Home  Rule.     By  common 


92    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

consent  the  Bishop  of  Raphoe  proved  himself  at 
the  Convention  to  be  among  the  two  or  three 
ablest  men  on  the  Nationalist  side.  In  the  repre- 
sentation from  the  Church  of  Ireland  the  genial 
and  conciliatory  Primate,  Dr.  Crozier,  a  Coven- 
anter, and  Dr.  Bernard,  Archbishop  of  Dublin, 
scholarly,  suave,  critical-minded,  with  English 
sympathies,  stood  out  prominently. 

Lastly  come  the  members  nominated  by  the 
Government.  To  several  of  these — including  Lord 
Dunraven,  Mr.  George  Russell,  and  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett — allusion  has  already  been  made.  Among 
the  others  there  were  Sir  Crawford  MacCullagh, 
a  prominent  member  of  the  Belfast  City  Council; 
Sir  Bertram  Windle,  President  of  the  University 
College,  Cork,  a  scientist  of  repute;  Sir  William 
Whitla,  a  Belfast  physician,  and  Sir  William 
Goulding  of  Dublin,  a  southern  captain  of  industry. 
In  the  list  there  stood  out  two  notabilities,  Mr. 
W.  M.  Murphy  and  Lord  MacDonnell,  men  past 
the  age  of  seventy  who  had  already  exercised  an  im- 
portant influence  on  Irish  affairs.  This  was  the 
Mr.  Murphy,  tramway  owner  and  railway  builder, 
who  had  upheld  the  Dublin  employers  against 
the  assault  of  James  Larkin  during  the  famous 
strike  in  the  winter  of  1913-14.  The  son  of  a 
contractor  in  West  Cork,  Mr.  Murphy  came  from 
the  same  part  of  Ireland  as  the  SuUivans,  T.  D. 
and  A.  M ,  and  the  celebrated  brothers,  T.  M.  and 
Maurice  Healy,  and  he  joined  this  group  in 
Parnell's  Parliamentary  Party  of  the  "  eighties." 
All  turned  bitterly  anti-Parnellite  during  the 
"  Split,"  but  objecting  to  the  policy  of  Mr.  Dillon 
formed  a  third  party  of  their  own  which  continu- 
ally harassed  the  recognised  leaders,  Mr.  Dillon, 
Mr.  T.  P.  O'Connor,  and  subsequently,  Mr.  John 
Redmond,  who,  it  was  alleged,  continually  sub- 
ordinated Irish  to  Liberal  interests.  In  time  Mr 
Murphy  left  Parliament,  but  he  retained,  in  spite 


THE   CONVENTION  93 

of  the  diversity  of  his  business  interests,  sufficient 
leisure  to  keep  an  eye  on  the  "  Party."  He  owned 
in  recent  years  the  Independent,  a  half-penny 
newspaper  with  a  wider  circulation  than  any  of  the 
other  Dublin  journals. 

During  1915  the  Independent  combined  support 
of  recruiting  and  the  war  with  vigorous  attacks 
on  the  Administration  and  Mr.  Redmond.  It 
laid  stress  on  the  dangers  of  the  increased 
taxation  of  Ireland  in  connection  with  the 
jBnancial  clauses  of  the  Home  Rule  Act,  and, 
after  the  appointment  of  Sir  Mathew  Nathan  as 
Under-Secretary,  hinted  that  deep  schemes  were 
afoot  to  render  Irish  self-government  unworkable 
and  worthless.  These  imputations  of  sinister 
British  intentions  undoubtedly  worked  upon  Irish 
nerves  during  the  winter  of  1915-16,  and  Mr. 
Birrell  in  his  evidence  before  the  Commission  on 
the  Rebellion  hinted  that  the  influence  of  the 
Independent  was  one  of  the  chief  difficulties  which 
the  Administration  had  had  to  encounter.  It  is 
needless  to  say  that  Mr.  Murphy  disapproved  of 
the  Rising.  But  he  recovered  from  the  shock  of 
that  outburst  more  quickly  than  did  the  Redmond- 
ite  politicians ;  and  soon  again  he  was  hard  at  work 
undermining  the  position  of  the  latter  and  up- 
setting their  plans.  His  newspaper  it  was  which, 
by  playing  on  the  susceptibilities  of  the  Northern 
Bishops,  did  most  to  upset  Mr.  Lloyd  George's 
plan  of  "  settlement  "  in  the  summer  of  1916.  Sub- 
sequently— though  he  may  not  have  been  without 
suspicions — Mr.  Murphy  acquiesced  in  the  next 
move  of  the  Government,  namely,  the  Convention 
proposal,  and  he  accepted  a  place  among  the 
nominated  members  at  Regent  House,  although 
Mr.  T.  M.  Healy  and  Mr.  William  O'Brien,  the 
politicians  whose  ideas  most  nearly  corresponded 
with  his,  had  refused  to  participate  in  the  "  farce." 
An  admirer,  who  wrote  of  Mr.  Murphy  at  the 


94   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

time  of  the  Dublin  strike,  found  him  "  a  tall,  spare 
figure,  slightly  stooped  at  the  shoulders,  with  a 
mass  of  silvery  hair  framing  a  benevolent  face  in 
which  two  kindly  but  piercing  grey  eyes  are  firmly 
set."  He  has  been  called  the  Irish  Lord  North- 
clife,  but  the  description  is  not  really  apt  except 
in  the  sense  that  both  Lord  Northclifie  and  Mr. 
Murphy  derive  their  political  influence  from  the 
ownership  and  direction  of  newspapers.  But  the 
Irishman,  unlike  Lord  Northcliffe,  has  been  a  man 
of  a  few  fixed  ideas ;  and  if  within  recent  years  he 
gave  the  public  much  of  what  it  wanted,  this  was 
due  to  coincidence  rather  than  to  design.  Indeed, 
Mr.  Murphy's  closest  political  associate  has  been 
Mr.  T.  M.  Healy,  a  man  whose  boast  it  has  been  to 
be  usually  in  a  minority  of  one. 

Lord  McDonnell,  formerly  Sir  A.  P.  McDonnell, 
is  a  man  of  about  the  same  age  as  Mr.  W.  M. 
Murphy;  both  had  a  slight  advantage  in  years 
over  the  two  other  notable  septuagenarians  of  the 
Convention,  Lord  Dunraven  and  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Mahaffy.  Successful  in  a  very  different  walk  of 
life  he  had,  like  Mr  Murphy,  started  life  in  a 
Nationalist  environment,  being  the  brother  of  Dr. 
Mark  MacDonnell,  once  an  Irish  M.P.  Mr.  T.  P. 
O'Connor  had  been  his  school-fellow  in  Galway 
fifty  years  ago.  Then  came  a  long  career  in  India, 
ending  with  the  Governorship  of  Bengal.  His 
appointment  as  Under-Secretary  for  Ireland  in 
1902  created  extraordinary  interest.  It  was  at  the 
time  when  a  Conservative  Government  of  Great 
Britain  was  making  an  effort  to  deal  with  Irish 
nationalism  on  conciliatory  lines,  particularly  in 
regard  to  the  land  question;  and  the  appointment 
of  a  Catholic  with  Nationalist  associations  to  the 
most  important  post  in  Dublin  Castle  seemed  to 
betoken  revolutionary  changes.  Lord  MacDonnell 
may  not  then  have  been  the  strong  Home  Ruler  he 
afterwards  became;  but  certainly  he  had  little  in 


THE  CONVENTION  95 

common  with  that  section  of  the  Irish  Unionists 
which  regarded  every  Conservative  Government  as 
the  servant  of  its  desires.  Mr.  William  O'Brien,  in 
his  OLive  Branch  in  Irish  History,  gives  a  pen 
portrait  of  the  Indian  Administrator  as  he 
appeared  at  that  time.  "  He  .  .  ,  somehow 
suggested  a  resemblance  to  an  Indian  curry  such 
as  they  serve  in  all  the  pride  of  its  four  courses  at 
the  Goljaas  Hotel  in  Columbo  to  wayfarers  from 
the  mail-boats — a  dish  of  startling  richness  and 
variety,  but  of  a  distinctly  peppery  flavour.  The 
only  part  of  the  stooped  and  meagre  figure  to  attract 
the  attention  was  the  head — the  head  with,  per- 
haps, the  provoking  note  of  interrogation  of  the 
eyeglass.  It  was  in  every  sense  of  the  term  a  tete 
carree,  such  as  it  would  seem  nothing  less  penetrat- 
ing than  a  bullet  could  move  from  its  base;  the 
head  of  a  Bismarck,  but  of  a  Bismarck  whose 
heart  was  softer  than  his  head." 

When  the  Land  Conference  had  achieved,  or 
largely  achieved,  its  purpose,  a  movement  was 
started  among  the  reforming  Irish  landowners 
with  the  object  of  introducing  certain  changes  in 
the  Irish  Government  in  the  sense  of  self-govern- 
ment. This  was  what  was  called  Devolution. 
To  this  movement  the  Conservative  Cabinet 
adopted,  at  first,  a  benevolent  attitude;  but, 
presently,  the  extremer  Unionists  in  Ireland 
actively  revolted  against  the  Wyndham-MacDon- 
nell  regime.  When  the  Irish  Parliamentary 
Party,  too,  refused  to  continue  the  Land  Con- 
ference truce,  the  end  was  near  at  hand.  The 
position  of  Under-Secretary  in  itself  meant  nothing 
to  Lord  MacDonnell,  except  in  so  far  as  it  would 
enable  him  to  be  the  initiator  of  experiments  in  re- 
form. Things  fell  back  upon  the  old  party  lines, 
and  Lord  MacDonnell,  therefore,  left  Ireland  and 
took  a  seat  upon  the  Indian  Council.  He  remained, 
however,  a  close  student  of  Irish  affairs,  and  he 


96    THE  CONVENTION   AND  SINN  FEIN 

dealt  authoritatively  with  the  Home  Rule  Bill  of 
1912  both  in  his  speeches  and  writings.  He 
had  clearly  become  a  convert  to  Home  Rule  in  its 
fullest  sense  of  fiscal  autonomy,  and  Nationalists 
were  satisfied  at  his  recall  to  Ireland  to  act  upon 
the  Convention. 

The  stated  purpose  for  which  the  Convention 
had  been  summoned  was  the  making  of  an  Irish 
Constitution.  There  were,  however,  not  many 
members  of  it  who  either  had  a  knowledge  of 
constitutional  history  or  constitutional  forms  or 
were  meii  of  practical  experience  in  administration. 
Lord  MacDonnell  combined  both  qualifications.  So 
did  Sir  Francis  Hopwood,  the  English  Secretary 
(who  became  Lord  Southborough  in  1917) ;  he  had 
held  many  important  British  appointments,  among 
others  that  of  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  the 
Colonies,  when  he  promoted  the  South  African 
settlement.  Two  Anglo-Irish  Peers,  the  Earl  of 
Desart,  who  had  been  a  member  of  the  British 
Court  of  Arbitration  at  the  Hague,  and  the  Earl 
of  Granard,  Postmaster-General  in  a  former 
Liberal  Government,  were  men  with  experience  in 
affairs.  Lord  Dunraven,  the  Bishop  of  Ross  and 
Sir  Horace  Plunkett  had  a  close  acquaintance  with 
the  technical  side  of  the  Home  Rule  question. 

Among  the  declared  Nationalists  at  the  Conven- 
tion, Mr.  George  Russell,  Mr.  Edward  E.  Lysaght 
and  Captain  Stephen  Gwynn  contributed  the 
largest  share  of  constructive  proposals.  Mr. 
Lysaght,  the  youngest  member  of  the  Convention, 
and  one  of  the  most  versatile — a  large  farmer  in 
County  Clare  and  an  author — represented  what 
might  be  described  as  the  extreme  left  of  the 
Nationalist  movement.  Of  English  education,  he 
had  become  an  ardent  Gaelic  Leaguer,  and  knew 
more  about  the  feelings  and  aspirations  of  the 
young  and  serious-minded  Irish  democracy  than 
any  other  member  of  the  Convention,  with  the  pos- 


THE  CONVENTION  97 

sible  exception  of  Mr.  George  Russell.  In  accept- 
ing the  Government's  invitation,  however,  Mr. 
Lysaght  made  it  clear  that  he  did  not  in  any  sense 
pretend  to  represent  either  the  Gaelic  League  or 
Sinn  Fein  movements.  Mr.  Stephen  Gwynn, 
another  Oxford  man,  the  son  of  a  Fellow  of  Trinity 
College  and  the  grandson  of  the  rebel  Smith 
O'Brien,  combined  in  himself  many  of  the  con- 
flicting tendencies  of  Irish  sentiment.  He  had 
been  brought  up  as  an  Irish  Unionist;  his 
early  career  vv^as  that  of  a  successful  journalist 
and  literary  critic  in  London.  Subsequently 
the  Irish  literary  movement  attracted  his  atten- 
tion, and  the  ideas  of  the  Gaelic  League  found 
in  him  one  of  their  most  cultivated  adherents. 
He  had  even  leanings  towards  Sinn  Fein,  though 
deprecating  the  anti-English  side  of  Mr.  Arthur 
Griffith's  programme.  In  1906  he  joined  Mr. 
Redmond's  party  as  member  for  Galway  after  an 
exciting  contest.  He  wrote  many  books  on 
Irish  topics,  To-day  and  To-Morrow  in  Ireland, 
The  Fair  Hills  of  Ireland,  and  the  Famous  Cities 
of  Ireland,  and  an  Irish  Novel,  John  Ma.xwelVs 
Marriage.  When  the  war  broke  out,  he  appeared 
as  one  of  the  most  determined  supporters  of  Mr. 
Redmond's  point  of  view,  and,  though  already  past 
fifty,  he  volunteered  for  the  British  Army  and 
served  in  France.  *^"^ 

The  Convention,  as  finally  constituted,  con- 
sisted of  the  following  ninety-five  members  (in 
alphabetical  order)  : — Government  Nominees  (15) 
— Councillor  Patrick  Dempsey  (Belfast),  the  Earl 
of  Desart,  the  Earl  of  Dunraven,  Sir  William 
Goulding,  the  Earl  of  Granard,  E.  E.  Lysaght, 
Sir  Crawford  McCuUagh,  Lord  MacDonnell,  Sir 
A.  McDowell,  Dr.  Mahaffy,  William  M.  Murphy, 
Sir  Horace  Plunkett,  George  Russell,  Sir  William 
Whitla,  Sir  Bertram  Windle.  Other  delegates  (80). 
—The  Duke  of  Abercorn,  Tyrone  Co.  Council ;  R.  N. 

G 


98   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

Anderson,  Mayor  of  Derry ;  E.  H.  Andrews,  Dublin 
Chamber  of  Commerce;  H.  B.  Armstrong,  Armagh 
Co.  Council;  H.  T.  Barrie,  M.P.,  Ulster  Party; 
M.  K.  Barry,  Cork  Co.  Council;  Dr.  Bernard, 
Archbishop  of  Dublin;  Sir  Henry  Blake,  Southern 
Unionist;  J.  Bolger,  Wexford  Co.  Council;  W. 
Brodrick  (Jun.),  Youghal  U.D.C.;  J.  Butler,  Kil- 
kenny Co.  Council;  T.  C.  Butterfield,  Lord  Mayor 
of  Cork;  J  Byrne,  Queen's  County  Co.  Council; 
J.  J.  Clancy,  M.P.,  Irish  Party;  Sir  G.  S.  Clark, 
Ulster  Party;  Colonel  J.  J.  Clarke,  Kerry  Co. 
Council;  J.  J.  Coen,  Westmeath  Co.  Council;  D. 
Condren,  Wicklow  Co.  Council;  Colonel  R.  G.  S. 
Crawford,  M.P.,  Down  Co.  Council;  Dr.  Crozier, 
Primate  of  All  Ireland;  J.  Devlin,  M.P.,  Irish 
Party;  J.  Dooly,  King's  County  Co.  Council;  Cap- 
tain W.  A.  Doran,  Louth  Co.  Council;  T.  Duggan, 
Tipperary  (North  Riding)  Co.  Council;  J.  Dun- 
leavy,  Donegal  Co.  Council;  T.  Fallon,  Leitrim  Co. 
Council;  John  FitzGibbon,  M.P.,  Roscommon  Co. 
Council;  J.  Flanagan,  Ballina  U.D.C.;  H.  Gara- 
han,  Longford  Co.  Council;  M.  Governey,  Carlow 
U.D.C. ;  W.  Gubbins,  Limerick  Co.  Council;  Cap- 
tain Stephen  Gwynn,  M.P.,  Irish  Party;  T.  Halli- 
gan,  Meath  Co.  Council;  J.  Hanna,  Labour  (Ship- 
yards); T.  J.  Harbison,  Irish  Party;  Dr.  Harty, 
Archbishop  of  Cashel;  Dr.  John  Irwin,  Moderator; 
J.  Johnston,  Lord  Mayor  of  Belfast;  Andrew 
Jameson,  Southern  Unionist;  W.  Kavanagh,  Car- 
low  Co.  Council;  Dr.  Kelly,  Bishop  of  Ross;  J.  K. 
Kett,  Clare  Co.  Council;  M.  E.  Knight,  Ulster 
Party ;  the  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  Ulster  Party ; 
T.  Lundon,  M.P.,  Labour  (Land  and  Labour 
Association) ;  J.  S.  F.  McCance,  Antrim  Co.  Coun- 
cil; Alderman  J.  McCarron,  Labour  (Derry); 
M.  McDonagh,  Galway  U.D.C;  J.  McDonnell, 
Galway  Co.  Council;  J.  McGarry,  Mayo  Co. 
Council;  H.  G.  McGeagh,  Lurgan  U.D.C;  J. 
McHugh,    Fermanagh   Co.   Council;    C   McKay, 


I 


THE  CONVENTION  99. 

Labour  (Shipbuilding  and  Engineering  Trades' 
Federation);  J.  McMeekan,  Bangor  U.D.C.;  A.  R. 
McMulien,  Chamber  of  Commerce  and  Shipping, 
Cork;  Dr.  McEory,  Bishop  of  Down;  the  Earl  of 
Mayo,  Irish  Peer;  Viscount  Midleton,  Southern 
Unionist;  M.  J.  Minch,  Kildare  Co.  Council;  J. 
Murphy,  Labour  (National  Union  of  Railwaymen) ; 
Dr.O'Donnell,  Bishop  of  Raphoe;  J.  O'Dowd,  M.P., 
Sligo  Co.  Council;  C.  P.  O'Neill,  Pembroke  U.D.C. ; 
L.  O'Neill,  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin;  P.  J.  O'Neill, 
Dublin  Co.  Council;  Lord  Oranmore  and  Browne, 
Irish  Peer;  Dr.  O'SuUivan,  Mayor  of  Waterford; 
P.  Peters,  Mayor  of  Clonmel;  H.  M.  Pollock,  Bel- 
fast Chamber  of  Commerce;  J.  B.  Powell,  Southern 
Unionist;  T.  Power,  Waterford  Co.  Council; 
Stephen  Quinn,  Mayor  of  Limerick;  John  Red- 
mond, M.P.,  Irish  Piarty;  D.  Reilly,  Cavan  Co. 
Council;  M.  Slattery,  Tipperary  (S.  Riding)  Co, 
Council;  C.  Stewart,  Southern  Unionist;  T.  Toal, 
Monaghan  Co.  Council;  Colonel  R.  H.  Wallace 
(Ulster  Party);  R.  Waugh,  Labour  (Belfast  and 
District  Building  Trades'  Federation);  H.  T. 
Whiteley,  Labour  (Belfast  and  District  Trades' 
Council).^ 

Immediately  before  the  assembly  of  the  Conven- 
tion an  addition  was  made  to  the  Defence  of  the 
Realm  Regulations  declaring  it  to  be  unlawful  for 
anyone  to  violate  the  secrecy  of  its  proceedings. 
The  prohibition  covered  both  printed  publication 
and  public  speaking,  and  forbade  any  report  or 
statement  which  described  or  purported  to  describe 
its  proceedings,  or  referred  to  them,  except  reports 
or  statements  officially  authorised  by  the  Chair- 

*  The  distinguished  Secretariat  appointed  included  Mr.  Erskine  Childers, 
author  of  a  famous  novel  The  Riddle  of  the  Sands.  Mr.  Childers  was 
a  well-known  student  of  Irish  politics,  and  had  written  the  authoritative 
book  The  Framework  of  Home  Rule.  Among  his  colleagues  were  Captain 
Herbert  Shaw,  Bometime  Secretary  of  the  Irish  Unionist  Alliance  ;  Mr. 
Cruise  O'Brien,  a  member  of  the  Plunkett  House  StafE  ;  Mr.  Callan,  a 
resident  magistrate  and  authority  on  land  purchase  ;  Mr.  Sh&n  Bullock, 
the  Ulster  novelist,  and  Mr.  Vernon  an  English  public  official. 


100   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

man.  It  was  generally  recognised  by  the  friends 
of  the  Convention  that  this  prohibition  was  neces- 
sary if  its  work  was  not  to  be  hampered,  perhaps 
fatally,  by  public  debate  on  its  proceedings,  though 
on  the  other  hand  the  secrecy  involved  a  certain 
atrophy  of  political  thought  in  Ireland  which  gave 
larger  scope  to  the  Sinn  Fein  propaganda.  The 
situation  was  in  some  respects  anomalous.  The 
members  of  the  Convention  were  not  themselves 
bound  to  secrecy.  A  relatively  large  number  of 
people  in  Ireland  were  kept  informed  of  its  pro- 
gress from  day  to  day,  and  a  still  larger  number 
gathered  a  general  idea  of  the  course  of  events 
within  the  Convention.  In  these  circumstances  it 
was  inevitable  that  rumours  sometimes  misleading, 
or  even  altogether  erroneous,  should  get  abroad. 
The  Irish  Press  in  general,  however,  loyally 
observed  the  regulations  during  the  earlier  stages 
of  the  Convention,  though  later  it  was  more 
honoured  in  the  breach  than  in  the  observance,  at 
least  in  spirit  if  not  in  actual  fact,  in  such  a, 
manner  as  to  involve  a  legal  offence. 

It  is  not  the  intention  of  this  book  to  invade  the 
secrecy  of  the  processes  by  which  the  Convention 
reached  its  conclusion.  The  inner  history  of  the 
Convention  will  doubtless  be  written  in  suitable 
time  by  more  competent  hands.  All  that  will  be 
attempted  here  is  a  record  of  its  proceedings  so  far 
as  these  were  officially  made  public,  and  in  so  far 
as  they  were  revealed  at  the  time  by  other  published 
indications.  The  Convention,  as  was  mentioned 
at  the  close  of  our  first  chapter,  held  its  first  meet- 
ing in  Dublin  on  July  25th.  Mr.  Duke  presided  at 
this  session,  and  after  his  opening  address  and  the 
appointment  of  Sir  Francis  Hopwood  as  Secretary, 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  advise  the  Conven- 
tion on  the  selection  of  a  suitable  Chairman.  It 
unanimously  recommended  the  appointment  of  Sir 
Horace  Plunkett,  and  this  recommendation  was 


THE  CONVENTION  101 

unanimously  adopted.  Sir  Horace  Plunkett  then 
formally  took  the  Chair,  and  the  first  day's  pro- 
ceedings terminated  with  votes  of  thanks  to  the 
Provost  and  Fellows  of  Trinity  College,  and  to  the 
Chief  Secretary.  Large  crowds  assembled  in 
College  Green  to  witness  the  first  gathering  of  the 
Convention.  A  small  group  made  a  hostile  demon- 
stration against  Mr.  Redmond  on  his  departure. 
Afterwards  little  public  interest  in  the  meetings 
was  displayed.  On  the  following  day,  July  26th, 
considerable  discussion  took  place  as  to  the 
arrangements  for  the  transaction  of  business.  A 
Preliminary  Procedure  Committee  was  appointed 
to  submit  proposals  to  the  Convention.  It  was 
agreed  that  the  Convention  should  adjourn  until 
August  8th  to  enable  the  Chairman,  in  conjunction 
with  the  Secretariat,  to  prepare  and  circulate  to 
members  the  material  necessary  to  enable  the  Con- 
vention to  proceed  with  its  task.  The  Preliminary 
Procedure  Committee  then  held  its  first  meeting, 
and  Sir  Francis  Hopwood  was  asked  to  submit  to 
it  information  with  regard  to  the  procedure 
adopted  by  the  South  African  Convention.  The 
Committee  met  again  on  July  31st,  under  the 
Chairmanship  of  Dr.  Crozier,  and  drafted  Stand- 
ing Orders  to  regulate  the  proceedings  of  the  Con- 
vention, modelled  on  the  general  lines  of  those  of 
the  General  Synod  of  the  Church  of  Ireland.  After 
final  revision  these  Standing  Orders  were  cir- 
culated to  the  members  of  the  Convention. 

At  the  next  meeting  of  the  Convention,  on 
August  8th,  after  their  adoption,  the  Chairman, 
having  described  the  steps  taken  by  the  Secre- 
tariat to  establish  an  information  bureau,  referred 
to  the  various  schemes  for  the  government  of  Ire- 
land already  in  existence,  and  suggested  a  pro- 
cedure by  which  they  might  at  once  be  sifted, 
thoroughly  examined,  and  subsequently  brought 
before  the  Convention  for  discussion.     Finally  it 

BOSTON  COTXEGF.  TTi^t^AHT 


102   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

was  proposed  by  the  Chairman,  seconded  by  the 
Bishop    of    Raphoe,    and    unanimously   resolved 
"  that  a  Standing  Committee  of  not  more  than 
twenty    members    (five    to    form    a    quorum)    be 
appointed  to  consult  with  the  Chairman  as  to  the 
procedure  to  be  adopted  by  the  Convention,  and  to 
exercise  such  powers  as  may  from  time  to  time  be 
delegated  to  it  by  the  Convention."  On  the  motion 
of  the  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  seconded  by  the 
Archbishop  of  Cashel,  the  same  committee  which 
had  previously  advised  on  the  choice  of  a  Chairman 
was  appointed  to  advise  on  the  choice  of  this  Stand- 
ing or  Grand  Committee — the  second  name  was 
subsequently  adopted.  At  the  third  meeting  of  the 
Convention,  on  August  '9th,  the  appointment  was 
recommended  and  ratified  of  the  following  member- 
ship of  the  G  rand  Committee,  upon  which  the  main 
work    of    the    Convention    should    subsequently 
devolve: — R.    N.    Anderson    (Mayor  of  Derry); 
H.  T.  Barrie,  M.P. ;  T.  C.  Butterfield  (Lord  Mayor 
of  Cork);  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  J.  Devlin, 
M.P.;  the  Archbishop  of  Dublin;  Captain  Stephen 
Gwynn,  M.P. ;  T.  J.  Harbison,  J.  Johnston  (Lord 
Mayor  of  Belfast);  E.  E.  Lysaght,  Alderman  J. 
McCarron,  A.  McDowell,  Lord  MacDonnell,  Vis- 
count Midleton,  W.  M.  Murphy,  L.  O'Neill  (Lord 
Mayor    of'  Dublin);    P.    J.    O'Neill    (Chairman, 
Dublin  Co.  Council);  H.  M.  Pollock,  G.  F.  Stewart, 
A.  R:.  V/augh.^    This  Grand  Committee  was  em- 
powered from  time  to  time  to  report  what  further 
committees  it  was  necessary  to  appoint. 

The  Convention  then  decided,  in  order  to  enter 
upon  its  principal  task  through  a  preliminary  ex- 
amination of  "  such  proposals  for  the  government 
of  Ireland  as  have  clear  merit  and  some  measure 

*  Alterations  in  the  membership  were  made  later  on.  Lord  London- 
derry, Dr.  Irwin,  Dr.  Kelly,  Dr.  O'Donnell,  Mr.  Eedmond,  Mr.  Clancy, 
Mr.  Russell,  Mr.  Powell,  took  the  place  of  Messrs.  Anderson,  Butterfield, 
Harbison,  Johnston,  !  .  O'Neill,  P  J.  O'Neill,  Stewart,  and  Dr.  Harty. 
Dr.  Crozier  was  co-opted  later, 


THE  CONVENTION  103 

of  support  in  Irish  public  opinion,"  that  the  ^ 
Secretariat  should  present  such  schemes  to  the 
Grand  Committee  in  a  form  suitable  for  discus- 
sion. These  were  then  to  be  circulated  among  the 
members  together  with  all  documents,  historical, 
statistical,  and  constitutional,  needed  to  assist 
them  in  the  debate  in  full  Convention.  As  this 
procedure  involved  ^nuch  detailed  work  it  was 
necessary  to  adjourn  the  Convention  until  August 
21st.  Before  the  adjournment  it  was  decided  to 
accept  an  invitation  from  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Bel- 
fast that  the  Convention  should  visit  Belfast,  and 
it  was  agreed  that  the  first  series  of  meetings  in 
September  should  be  held  in  that  city.  A  similar 
invitation  from  Cork  was  also  cordially  accepted. 
The  Grand  Committee  then  proceeded  forthwith 
to  make  arrangements  for  the  preparation  and  ex- 
amination of  draft  schemes  which  might  be  made 
applicable  to  the  future  government  of  Ireland, 
and  decided  upon  the  discussion  of  "  schemes  of 
the  Dominion  type"  at  the  next  meeting  of  the 
Convention.  At  this  meeting,  on  August  21st, 
and  those  on  August  22nd  and  23rd,  the  Conven- 
tion entered  upon  and  continued  "  the  considera- 
tion of  certain  draft  schemes  based  upon  the 
Dominion  principle  of  self-government.'* 

These  meetings  were  felt  to  mark  a  fresh  and 
importai^t  phase  of  the  deliberations.  Nothing 
further  occurred,  however,  to  stimulate  public 
interest.  It  had  now  become  the  regular  procedure 
for  the  Convention  to  meet  on  Tuesday,  Wednes- 
day and  Thursday  of  every  week.  It  met  accord- 
ingly on  August  28th,  29th,  and  30th  in  Dublin, 
and  on  September  4th,  5th  and  6th  in  the  City  Hall, 
Belfast,  and  every  meeting  was  followed  by  the 
publication  of  the  same  formula.  The  members  of 
the  Convention  were  hospitably  received  in  Bel- 
fast, where,  in  the  course  of  a  public  speech.  Sir 
Horace    Plunkett    said    that    already    it    way 


104    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

abundantly  clear  that  every  member  had  come  to 
the  Convention  w^ith  the  earnest  desire  of  develop- 
ing not  Irish  differences,  but  Irish  agreements,  and 
he  thought  that  already  some  of  them  felt  very 
hopeful  of  their  task.  The  only  jarring  note 
during  their  visit  to  Belfast  was  struck  by  the 
Northern  Whig,  which  descanted  on  the  futility  of 
discussing  schemes  of  self-government  which  were 
destined  to  be  committed  to  the  waste-paper  basket. 
Some  significance  was  attached  to  this  demonstra- 
tion, in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  Northern  Whig 
was  understood  to  be  closely  in  touch  with  a  certain 
section  of  the  Ulster  Unionist  Council.  The  Con- 
vention then  returned  to  Dublin,  ai^d  at  its  next 
two  meetings,  on  September  11th  and  12th,  issued 
the  same  formula. 

At  the  meeting  on  September  13th,  however, 
the  formula  was  varied.  It  was  announced 
that  *'  further  schemes,  in  addition  to  those 
previously  under  discussion,  were  introduced  and 
considered'' — an  announcement  which  gave  rise 
to  the  impression  that  no  basis  of  settlement 
could  be  reached  "  upon  the  Dominion  principle  of 
self-government."  The  sittings  of  September  18th, 
19th  and  20th  produced  no  more  than  the  formula 
that  "the  discussion  on  proposals  for  the  future 
government  of  Ireland  was  continued."  The  first 
sitting  in  Cork,  at  the  Crawford  Technical 
Institute,  on  September  25th,  was  marked  by  a 
notable  speech  at  a  public  luncheon  by  the  Chair- 
man, who  sounded  a  note,  in  his  own  phrase,  of 
"  justifiable  optimism,"  and  announced  that  an 
important  stage  of  the  deliberations  had  been 
passed  and  the  Convention  was  moving  on  to  the 
next.  At  this  sitting  a  motion  was  adopted  that 
on  the  conclusion  of  the  debate  at  the  present 
sitting  of  the  Convention — on  September  26th  and 
27th — "  the  various  schemes  which  have  been  sub- 
mitted to,  and  discussed  in,  the  Convention,  be 


THE   CONVENTION  105 

referred  to  the  Grand  Committee,  in  order,  if  pro- 
fitable, to  prepare  a  scheme  for  submission  to  the 
Convention,  which  would  meet  the  views  and 
difficulties  expressed  by  the  diferent  speakers 
during  the  debate."  On  September  27th,  there- 
fore, the  Convention  stood  adjourned  until  the 
Grand  Committee  should  be  in  a  position  to  report. 

During  a  period  of  nearly  three  months  the 
Grand  Committee  met  from  time  to  time,  issuing 
no  reports  beyond  the  fact  of  its  meetings,  and  the 
appointment  of  some  sub-committees,  of  which 
the  most  important  was  that  established  to  con- 
sider the  completion  of  Land  Purchase.  It  was 
not  until  December  18th  that  the  full  Convention 
was  summoned  to  receive  a  statement  of  the  work 
done  by  the  Grand  Committee.  The  Convention 
continued  the  debate  on  the  statement  during  the 
two  following  days,  and  then  adjourned  over 
Christmas  until  January  2nd.  It  was  by  now 
apparent  that  it  had  reached  a  crisis  in  its  affairs. 

During  the  Christmas  adjournment  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett  made  a  brief  reference  to  the  Convention 
in  his  speech  on  December  21st  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing of  the  Irish  Agricultural  Organisation  Society. 
"  We  are  making  progress,"  he  said.  "  We  have 
agreed  on  many  things.  There  are  some  things  on 
which  we  have  not  agreed.  I  cannot  tell  you  yet 
that  we  will  be  able  to  present  a  unanimous  re- 
port; but  I  can  tell  you  that,  at  the  end  of  our 
deliberations,  we  shall  leave  the  Irish  question 
better  than  we  found  it,  because  we  shall  havc5 
agreed  on  many  things,  and  those  who  have  to 
complete  the  task  which  we  may  have  left  un- 
finished will  find  that  they  have  a  much  simpler 
work  to  do  than  we  had."  After  mentioning  that 
the  work  done  by  the  sub-committee  on  Land  Pur- 
chase was  very  likely  to  produce  a  solution  that 
the  country  would  approve.  Sir  Horace  Plunkett 
added  : — "  It  is  perfectly  true  that  we  have  been 


106    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

often  on  the  rocks,  and  probably  shall  be  on  the 
rocks  again;  but  there  are  always  tugs  lying  by 
ready  to  pull  us  off.  We  will  get  off  somehow,  and 
I  myself  am  very  hopeful  of  the  ultimate  result/' 

The  meetings  of  the  Convention  in  January, 
after  tne  Christmas  adjournment,  however,  pro- 
vided no  immediate  justification  of  the  Chair- 
man's optimism.  The  meeting  on  January  2nd 
was  preceded  by  meetings  of  the  Irish  Peers  and  of 
the  Irish  Unionist  Alliance.  It  was  now  known 
that  Viscount  Midleton,  on  behalf  of  the  Southern 
Unionists,  had  proposed  the  adoption  of  a  com- 
promise which  fell  far  short  of  Dominion  self- 
government.  While  securing  large  concessions  to 
the  Unionist  minority,  it  contemplated  the  reserva- 
tion of  control  over  Customs,  as  well  as  complete 
naval  and  military  control,  to  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment, in  which  a  reduced  Irish  membership  was 
to  be  retained.  During  the  first  group  of  meetings 
after  the  Christmas  recess — January  2nd,  3rd  and 
4th — the  Irish  Independent — Mr.  W.  M.  Murphy's 
newspaper — published  a  strongly  worded  protest 
against  any  settlement  which  did  not  give  the  Irish 
Parliament  complete  control  over  Customs  and 
Excise.  "  We  assert,"  it  said,  "  that  any  scheme 
of  Home  Rule  which  does  not  concede  full  fiscal 
powers  will  not  for  one  moment  be  entertained  by 
the  country.  It  will  be  rejected  and  scouted  with 
derision."  The  meetings  of  the  Convention  on 
January  8th,  9th  and  10th,  it  was  common  know- 
ledge, had  resulted  in  absolute  deadlock,  and  those 
on  the  15th,  16th  and  17th  provided  no  solution  of 
it.  The  position,  it  was  understood,  was  that  the 
Nationalists  were  not  prepared  to  reduce  the  claim 
to  Dominion  powers  and  agree  to  the  Midleton 
compromise  while  the  Ulster  Unionists  had  not 
defined  their  attitude,  and  while  there  was  no 
assurance  that  in  the  event  of  their  finally  refus- 
ing to  agree  to  that  compromise,  the  Government 


THE   CONVENTION  107 

would  enforce  it  if  it  were  embodied  in  a  majority 
report.^ 

This  public  impression  of  the  situation  which 
had  developed  was  confirmed  when,  immediately 
before  the  next  meeting  of  the  Convention  on 
January  22nd,  it  was  announced  that  Mr.  Lysaght, 
one  of  the  nominated  members,  had  addressed  a 
letter  to  the  Prime  Minister  resigning  his  position. 
Mr  Lysaght,  as  has  been  mentioned,  represented 
the  extreme  left  wing  of  the  Nationalists  on  the 
Convention.  In  a  letter  to  the  Press  explaining 
his  resignation  he  wrote  that  the  Irish  people  as  a 
whole  could  be  expected  to  agree  to  no  settlement 
"  which  does  not  provide  for  an  Irish  Parliament 
with  complete  powers  over  all  Irish  affairs,  and 
free  from  outside  interference  of  any  kind.  Such 
a  Parliament  must  be  democratically  elected,  and 
minority  safeguards  must  not  prevent  it  from  ex- 
pressing the  will  of  the  Irish  people  as  a  whole. 
The  provisions  of  the  Constitution  should  in- 
clude : — (1)  Fiscal  autonomy — i.e,,  complete  con- 
trol of  all  taxation,  including  Customs  and  Excise. 
(2)  Control  of  trade  policy,  with  powers  similar 
to  those  enjoyed  by  the  Dominions  of  Canada, 
South  Africa,  Australia  and  New  Zealand  in  re- 
spect of  making  commercial  treaties.  (3)  Power 
to  raise  and  control  forces  for  home  defence,  and 
powers  similar  to  those  enjoyed  by  the  above 
Dominions  as  regards  naval  forces.  (4)  No 
representation  at  Westminster."  Mr.  Lysaght 
went  on  to  say  that  he  believed  it  so  desirable  to 
avoid  the  coercion  of  any  body  of  Irishmen  that  he 
had  been,  and  remained,  ready  to  agree  to  con- 
cessions on  the  following  lines  in  order  to  induce 
Irish    Unionists    to    co-operate    in    self-govern- 

*  Mr.  Redmond  and  some  of  his  followers  adhered  to  the  Midleton 
compromise,  but  were  opposed  not  only  by  the  Independent  Nationalists, 
but  also  by  Mr.  Devlin  and  the  Northern  Bishops.  The  advocates  of  the 
Dominion  scheme  had  hoped  to  receive  the  support  of  the  Belfast  Labour 
delegates,  but  these  refused  to  go  beyond  the  Midleton  compromise. 


108    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

ment : — (1)  Special  arrangements  for  a  limited 
period,  say  ten  years,  by  which  minority  interests 
would  be  represented  out  of  proportion  to  their 
numbers.  (2)  By  Constitutional  safeguards  to  en- 
sure religious  equality.  (3)  The  reservation,  for  a 
period,  of  the  control  of  naval  and  military  forces 
to  the  Imperial  Parliament,  provided  that  the 
Irish  Parliament  had  power  to  raise  and  control 
Volunteer  forces  for  service  in  Ireland  only,  and 
that  conscription  could  not  be  imposed  on  Ireland 
without  the  consent  of  the  Irish  Parliament.  (4)  The 
recognition  of  the  principle  of  an  Imperial  con- 
tribution by  the  assumption  of  the  responsibility 
for  the  full  cost  of  home  defence,  and  the  comple- 
tion of  Land  Purchase  by  the  Irish  Parliament. 
(The  general  principle  which  Mr.  Lysaght  defined 
in  this  connection  was  that  of  "  no  doles  from  Eng- 
land and  no  tribute  from  Ireland.")  (5)  A  Free 
Trade  Treaty  between  Ireland  and  Great  Britain, 
attached  to  the  Constitution,  and  binding  both 
countries  for  a  term  of  years,  always  provided  that 
Irish  control  of  trade  in  all  other  matters  was  not 
impaired. 

*'  The  object  of  the  Convention,"  Mr.  Lysaght 
proceeded,  "  was  to  find  some  such  means  to 
induce  Irish  Unionists,  and  especially  Ulster 
Unionists,  to  agree  voluntarily  to  a  Constitution 
which  would  be  acceptable  to  the  majority  of  the 
Irish  people.  Without  the  prospect  of  such  agree- 
ment and  without  an  immediate  assurance  from 
the  Government,  that  a  majority  report,  however 
constituted,  will  be  acted  on  without  delay,  con- 
tinued discussions  in  the  Convention  seem  to  me  to 
be  useless.  If  Mr.  Lloyd  George's  speech  of  January 
5th,  in  which  he  outlined  British  war-aims, 
means  anything,  it  certainly  commits  the  British 
Government  to  the  principle  of  self-determination, 
and  the  right  of  Ireland  to  determine  her  form  of 
government  can  no  longer  be  disputed.    There  is,  I 


THE  CONVENTION  109 

believe,    grave   danger   of    Ireland's   case   being 
grossly  misrepresented  in  the  eyes  of  the  world, 
who  may  be  led  to  believe  that  the  setting  up  of  an 
unrepresentative  Convention  of  Irishmen  (ham- 
pered by  the  pledge  which  Ulster  Unionists  have 
from  the  Government)  is  a  fair  and  proper  appli- 
cation of  the  principle  of  self-determination  to 
Ireland.    Every  country  to  which  the  principle  of 
self-determination  is  to  be  applied  has  within  its 
borders  a  minority  opposed  to  its  national  freedom. 
Is  Ireland  alone  to  be  dominated  by  that  minority, 
which,  it  must  be  remembered,  has  been  offered  in 
Ireland  concessions  and  safeguards  unprecedented 
in  any  democratic  country  in  the  world  ?    There  is 
even  greater  danger,  in  my  judgment,  of  its  con- 
tinued   existence    in    protracted    silence,    being 
utilised   to   postpone   the   question   of    Ireland's 
future  status,  which  is  now  a  question  of  interna- 
tional importance.     The  time  has  surely  come  for 
the  Government  to  prove  to  the  Irish  people  that 
the  fullest  self-government  is  not  only  possible,  but 
certain,  for  nationalities  within  the  bounds  of  the 
British  Empire;  otherwise  they  need  not  be  sur- 
prised if  an  increasing  number  of  Irishmen  refuse 
to  accept  anything  short  of  complete  separation." 
Mr.  Lysaght's  resignation  from  the  Irish  Con- 
vention was  immediately  followed  by  that  of  Sir 
Edward  Carson  from  the  War  Cabinet.    His  letter 
of  resignation  to  the  Prime  Minister  explained  his 
reasons  for  this  step.    After  recalling  that  he  had 
used  his  influence  to  induce  his  friends  in  Ulster 
to  take  part  in  the  Convention,  but  had  himself 
been  debarred  from  taking  part  in  its  proceedings 
by  his  dual  position  as  a  member  of  the  Govern- 
ment and  as  leader  of  the  Ulster  Party,  Sir  Edward 
Carson  said  that  "  it  is  apparent  that,  whatever  the 
result  of  the  Convention  may  be,  its  proceedings 
may  lead  to  a  situation  demanding  a  decision  by  the 
Government  on  grave  matters  of  policy  in  Ireland." 


i 
110   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

He  felt  certain  that  it  would  be  of  advantage  to 
the  War  Cabinet  to  discuss  this  policy  without  his 
presence,  "  having  regard  to  the  very  prominent 
part  which  I  have  taken  in  the  past  in  relation  to 
the  Home  Eule  controversy  and  the  pledges  by 
which  I  am  bound  to  my  friends  in  Ulster."  He 
added  that  he  desired  to  be  entirely  unfetterd  him- 
self in  forming  a  judgment  as  to  tide  new  situation 
which  might  arise,  "  taking  account  both  of  the 
supreme  duty  which  rests  on  all  of  us  of  assisting  in 
the  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  of  my  personal 
obligations  as  leader  of  the  Ulster  Unionist  Party." 

Mr.  Lloyd  George,  in  accepting  his  resignation 
with  regret,  expressed  his  assurance  that  Sir 
Edward  Carson  was  resigning  "in  no  partisan 
spirit,  for  ever  since  the  war  began  you  have  placed 
victory  for  your  country  above  all  sectional  pre- 
judice or  advantage."  Public  speculation  in  Ire- 
land as  to  the  use  which  Sir  Edward  Carson  would 
make  of  his  liberty  of  action  was  not  immediately 
gratified.  In  his  series  of  speeches  during  his 
visit  to  Ulster  after  his  resignation  he  baffled 
curiosity  by  laying  carefully  equal  stress  on  the 
importance  of  an  Irish  settlement  and  on  the 
security  of  the  Government's  pledge  that  there 
should  be  no  coercion  of  Unionist  Ulster.  He  was 
clearly  adopting  a  waiting  attitude  until  the 
Government  had  defined  its  policy. 

Sir  Edward  Carson's  resignation  was  s\,t  once 
interpreted  as  meaning  that  the  Government  had 
decided  upon  some  sort  of  intervention  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Convention.  This  expectation  was 
quickly  realised.  The  Convention  had  resumed  its 
sittings  on  January  22nd,  the  date  when  Sir 
Edward  Carson's  resignation  was  announced.  On 
the  morrow  The  Times  published  a  remarkable  dis- 
patch from  its  Washington  correspondent.  The 
correspondent  asserted  that  disquieting  reports 
reaching  America  of  the  prospects  of  the  Irish 


THE  CONVENTION  111 

Convention  had  created  a   profound  uneasiness, 
which  was  causing  great  anxiety  in  official  circles. 
"  America,"  he  said,  "  regards  the  question  as  one 
in  which  the  whole  civilised  world  is  most  deeply 
interested.  Although  there  is  no  desire  on  the  part 
either  of  President  Wilson  or  the  American  people 
to  interfere  in  the  slightest  degree  with  the  manner 
of  solution,  the  principles  at  stake  are  so  vital  that 
the  most  disastrous  consequences  would  inevitably 
follow  the  collapse  of  the  Irish  Convention  and  the 
failure  of  the  British  Government  to  apply  to  Ire- 
land principles  which  both  Mr.  Lloyd  George  and 
President  Wilson  have  declared  essential  to  the 
future  happiness  of  mankind.     Among  the  mass 
of  the  American  people,  it  is  true,  there  has  been  a 
widespread  feeling  that  the  Irish  Convention  was 
hand-picked,  but  the  general  belief  is  that  what- 
ever the  majority  decides  will  be  ratified  by  the 
Irish  people.     Should  these  hopes  be  dashed,  no 
power  on  earth  can  prevent  an  immediate  outburst 
of  feeling  here,  which  will  not  only  very  greatly 
hamper  President  Wilson,  but  will  have  a  direct 
effect  upon  America's  participation  in  the  war. 
The  splendid  result  of  Mr.  Balfour's  visit  to  the 
United  States  would  be  wiped  out  overnight,  and 
distrust  of  Great  Britain  would  take  the  place  of 
the  confidence  now  happily  existing.    There  are  at 
present  several  resolutions  bearing  upon  the  Irish 
question  dormant  in  Congress,  and  political  condi- 
tions in  the  United  States  make  it  certain  that 
action  will  be  taken  by  Congress  should  the  Con- 
vention collapse  and  the  British  Government  fail 
to  meet  the  resulting  situation.     .    .     .     Even  in 
official  circles  a  strong  feeling  exists  that,  in  the 
event  of  a  collapse  of  the  Irish  Convention,  the 
British  Government  must  be  prepared  to  accept  the 
decisions  of  the  majority,  and  to  enforce  them  upon 
the  minority.    This  is  based  on  the  belief  that  the 
majority  of  the  Irish  people  have  been  obliged 


112    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

in  the  past  to  live  under  a  system  of  government 
not  desired  by  the  majority,  and  acceptable  only 
to  the  minority  of  the  inhabitants,  and  that  now  the 
least  the  British  Government  can  do  is  to  give 
Ireland,  as  a  whole,  the  kind  of  government  desired 
by  the  majority,  even  though  it  may  be  repugnant 
to  the  minority,  as  they  realise  that  absolute 
political  unanimity  is  impossible.  Americans  can 
no  more  conceive  of  Ulster  being  allowed  to 
separate  herself  from  the  rest  of  Ireland  than 
they  could  conceive  of  allowing  South  Carolina  to 
secede  from  the  Union.  To  admit  it  is  to  admit  the 
right  of  Ireland  to  secede  as  a  whole  from  the 
British  Empire/' 

The  validity  of  this  interpretation  of  the 
American  attitude  was  fiercely  disputed  by  Ulster 
Unionists.  President  Wilson's  undoubted  anxiety 
for  an  Irish  settlement,  however,  must  be  pre- 
sumed to  have  been  not  the  least  of  the  influences 
which  decided  the  Government  to  intervene  in  the 
Convention  deadlock.  On  January  24th,  the  day 
after  the  publication  of  The  Times's  Washington 
dispatch.  Sir  Horace  Plunkett  read  to  the  Con- 
vention a  letter  from  the  Prime  Minister  stating 
that  "  before  a  decision  was  come  to  by  the  Con- 
vention on  certain  issues  under  discussion,"  he  and 
his  colleagues  in  the  Cabinet  would  be  happy  to 
confer  with  leading  members  representing  different 
sections  of  the  Convention,  should  they  desire  to 
follow  such  a  course.  It  was  therefore  decided  to 
adjourn  the  Convention,  and  certain  members 
were  selected  to  meet  the  Prime  Minister  and  his 
colleagues.  The  Chairman  was  authorised  to 
arrange  the  conference  for  the  earliest  possible 
date,  and  immediately  thereafter  to  summon  the 
Convention.  Owing  to  the  Prime  Minister's 
engagements  he  did  not  meet  the  Convention  re- 
presentatives until  the  second  week  in  February, 
when  he  began  to  confer  with  the  delegates  of  the 


THE  CONVENTION  113 

various  parties  separately.  Sir  Edward  Carson, 
who  had  returned  to  London,  was  at  the  same  time 
in  touch  with  Mr.  Lloyd  George. 

In  the  period  between  the  adjournment  of  the 
Convention  and  the  meetings  in  London  three  sug- 
gestive things  occurred.    In  the  first  place,  Mr. 
Devlin    interpreted    the    Parliamentary    Party's 
victory  in  South  Armagh  in  these  terms  : — "I  take 
the  verdict  of  South  Armagh  to  represent  the  feel- 
ings of  Nationalist  Ulster  in  relation  to  the  pre- 
sent political  situation  in  Ireland.    If  that  verdict 
means  anything,  it  means  that  there  must  be  con- 
ceded to  this  country  a  measure  of  the  widest  form 
of  self-government.    South  Armagh  demands  such 
a  measure  of  liberty  for  Ireland  as  is  enjoyed  by 
Canada,    Australia  and   South   Africa.      If   the 
Government  is  not  prepared  to  hearken  to  the  voice 
of  the  rational-minded  people  of  Ireland  as  re- 
flected in  the  decisive  result  of  this  election,  then 
it  must  be  prepared  to  see  this  country  handed 
over  to  the  forces  of  extremism  and  disruption.    I 
go  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  message  of  the  electors 
of  South  Armagh  embodies  a  dual  lesson.    It  con- 
veys a  message  of  good-will  to  the  Convention,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  a  warning,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  the  question  of  Irish  self-government  must  be 
settled  at  once  on  the  broadest  and  most  generous 
lines."    Following  this  speech  of  Mr.  Devlin's  the 
Nationalist  Press,  ofiicial  as  well  as  independent, 
urged  the  demand  for  Dominion  self-government. 
In  the  next  place,  Mr.   George  Russell  ("  M "), 
known  to  be  one  of  the  foremost  advocates  of  that 
solution,  who  had  been  selected  as  one  of  the  dele- 
gates  to    the  London    Conference,    followed  Mr. 
Lysaght's  example  and  resigned  from  the  Conven- 
tion on  the  eve  of  the  delegates'  departure.  Finally, 
there  was  to  be  observed  a  certain  tentative  can- 
vassing in  a  section  of  the  London  Press  of  the 
possibility  of  reviving  the  completely  discredited 
scheme  of  partition. 


114   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

During  the  suspension  of  the  Convention's 
sittings,  while  the  delegation  from  it  was  absent 
in  London,  the  situation  in  Ireland  was  not  want- 
ing in  elements  of  interest  and  even  of  excitement. 
On  February  14th,  in  a  letter  to  the  Freeman's 
Journal,  Mr.  Dillon  made  a  tentative  overture  to 
^inn  Fein,  hinting  at  a  possibility  of  common 
action  in  the  event  of  an  abortive  issue  to  the  Con- 
vention. In  the  course  of  his  letter  he  asserted  his 
belief  that  an  Irish  Republic  would  not  be  practical 
politics  within  the  life-time  of  himself  or  Mr.  de 
Valera.  At  the  same  time  he  declared  that  "  I  am 
and  always  have  been  of  opinion  that,  if  the  Irish 
question  is  not  satisfactorily  settled  before  the 
conclusion  of  the  war,  an  effort  ought  to  be  made, 
and  must  be  made,  to  get  a  hearing  for  the  Irish 
question  at  the  Peace  Conference."  Apart  from  the 
demand  for  an  independent  Republic,  which  he 
said  was  becoming  more  and  more  a  purely 
academic  question,  Mr.  Dillon  suggested  that  the 
only  difference  between  the  Nationalist  Party  and 
Sinn  Fein  was  that  the  former  "  consider  it  far 
preferable,  if  possible,  that  a  settlement  by  agree- 
ment with  the  British  people  should  be  made  now 
or  before  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  rather  than 
that  we  should  be  forced  to  appeal  to  the  Peace 
Conference.''  Without  developing  the  hint  of  a 
possible  scheme  of  co-operation,  Mr.  Dillon  went 
on  to  propose  a  truce.  He  asked  was  it  necessary 
for  the  purposes  of  the  Sinn  Fein  movement  that 
each  by-election  should  be  made  a  battlefield,  "  to 
the  manifest  weakening  of  every  movement  having 
for  its  object  the  winning  of  Irish  freedom."  He 
proposed  that  Sinn  Fein  should  carry  on  without 
fighting  by-elections,  and  that  when  the  General 
Election  came,  if  the  Irish  question  was  still  un- 
settled, and  it  was  still  of  the  same  mind,  it  should 
then  challenge  once  for  all  the  verdict  of  the  new 
electors  and  let  Ireland  decide  who  was  to  speak  in 


THE  CONVENTION  115 

her  name.  In  the  anticipated  event  of  this  proposal 
being  rejected  by  Sinn  Fein,  he  suggested  at  least 
an  agreement  whereby  neither  party  should  bring 
into  a  contested  constituency  more  than  a  limited 
number  of  outsiders,  confined  to  speakers  and  elec- 
tion agents,  so  as  to  leave  the  people  of  the  con- 
stituency free  from  outside  pressure  to  record  their 
verdict,  and  "mitigate  the  scandals  v^hich  have 
marked  recent  elections/'  Finally,  Mr.  Dillon 
addressed  this  further  question  to  Mr.  de  Valera  : 
*'  Does  he,  or  does  he  not,  approve  of  the  Mansion 
House  meeting  held  last  v^eek  in  Dublin?  Does 
he  agree  with  the  speaker  at  that  meeting  who  de- 
clared that,  in  his  judgment,  the  liberty  won  by 
the  Bolsheviks  in  Russia  is  the  only  complete 
liberty  ever  enjoyed  by  any  people  in  history,  and 
that  it  is  the  kind  of  liberty  that  the  Irish  people 
are  determined  to  have  and  are  prepared  to  fight 
for?" 

To  these  questions  Mr.  de  Valera  returned  no 
immediate  reply.  The  last  of  the  questions 
addressed  to  him  by  Mr.  Dillon  referred  to  a 
crowded  meeting  in  the  Dublin  Mansion  House 
which  was  addressed  by  some  Russian  Bolsheviks, 
who  were  given  an  enthusiastic  reception  by  the 
Irish  Labour  Party  and  the  labour  wing  of  Sinn 
Fein.  The  policy  of  the  Bolsheviks  had  at  this 
time  brought  them  into  extreme  disfavour  with 
the  bourgeois  parties  of  Ireland  as  of  every  other 
country.  This  meeting  was  rigidly  boycotted  by 
orthodox  members  of  the  Sinn  Fein  party.  It  v^as 
chiefly  remarkable  as  illustrating  the  hold  which 
the  extreme  doctrines  of  the  "class-war"  had 
established  over  the  imagination  of  the  working 
classes  of  the  Irish  towns.  The  theory  of  James 
Connolly  and  the  Bolshevik  theory  had,  of  course, 
much  in  common.  The  bourgeois  Press,  Nation- 
alist as  well  as  Unionist,  however,  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity of    seeking    to    implicate    Sinn    Fein    in 


116    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

"  Bolshevism  " — a  term  which  it  applied  to  the 
development  in  the  month  of  February  of  mani- 
festations of  "  anarchy,"  though  these  were  con- 
fined to  rural  districts,  while  "  Bolshevism,"  in  any 
serious  meaning  of  the  word,  was  wholly  applic- 
able to  the  towns. 

The  unrest  which  rapidly  developed  in  this 
month  centred  in  Clare,  a  county  always 
peculiarly  subject  to  agrarian  disturbance,  and 
spread  thence  to  the  adjacent  counties.  Ex- 
tensive and  frequent  raiding  for  arms  was 
followed  by  the  organisation  of  cattle-drives,  and 
the  seizure  of  land  for  tillage  on  a  large  scale. 
These  drives  and  seizures  were  carried  out  under 
the  auspices  of  the  local  Sinn  Fein  clubs  "  in  the 
name  of  the  Irish  Republic,"  and  in  defiance  of 
the  police,  who  were  compelled  to  adopt  the  role  of 
impotent  spectators  in  the  majority  of  cases.  In 
some,  however,  collisions  occurred  between  the 
people  and  the  police.  The  successful  challenge  of 
the  political  and  agrarian  movement  to  authority 
began  inevitably  to  encourage  ordinary  crime  in 
the  form  of  the  satisfaction  of  private  vendettas, 
and,  in  one  or  two  cases,  of  serious  highway 
robberies.  The  Standing  Committee  of  Sinn  Fein 
addressed  a  circular  to  the  local  executives  in 
which  it  said  that,  while  most  of  the  cattle-drives 
were  no  doubt  justifiable,  some  of  them  appeared 
to  be  unjust  and  undertaken  without  due  regard  to 
the  circumstances,  and  appealed  for  discretion  in 
these  and  other  matters  lest  the  cause  of  the  Irish 
Republic  should  be  brought  into  disrepute. 

A  correspondent  of  the  New  York  World,  after 
spending  ten  days  in  the  West  of  Ireland,  thus 
described  the  situation  :  "  The  meaning  of  the  news 
is  not  that  the  rural  districts  of  the  West  are  seeth- 
ing with  violent  crime.  Comparatively  little  of 
what  is  happening  could  fairly  be  brought  within 
that  term.    What  has  happened  is  that  the  popula- 


THE  CONVENTION  117 

tion  of  County  Clare  and  of  wide  areas  of  the 
adjacent  counties  have  simply  ceased  to  recognise 
the  law.  There  is  no  longer  even  a  pretence  of 
general  respect  for  authority.  All  Government 
regulations  are  openly  flouted.  .The  police  are 
mocked  at  and  the  magistrates  ridiculed  with  im- 
punity. ...  In  all  this  there  seems  to  be  little 
bitterness  or  hatred,  but  much  contempt — the  con- 
tempt of  an  acute,  witty  and  vain  people  for  what 
they  choose  to  regard  as  the  dull  blundering  of  a 
set  of  stupid  outsiders.  ...  In  this  scornful 
fashion  Western  Ireland  is  drifting  to  the  rapids 
of  anarchy.  While  the  Government  thus  finds  it- 
self in  a  state  of  dissolution,  the  background  of  all 
Irish  minds  that  are  able  to  view  events  clearly 
is  siiadowed  by  the  spectre  of  an  ultimate  '  settle-, 
ment '  under  Martial  Law  in  the  West." 

Manifestations  of  this  movement  were  not  con- 
fined to  the  West.  In  County  Dublin,  for  example, 
an  aerodrome  was  raided  at  night  by  a  masked 
band  of  cyclist,  who  carried  away  plans  and  instru- 
ments. A  number  of  young  men  were  arrested  in 
Dublin  on  charges  of  conspiring  to  blow  up  rail- 
way bridges.  On  February  22nd  the  Dublin  Press 
announced  that  "  Bolshevism  has  invaded  Dublin." 
On  the  previous  afternoon  a  drove  of  pigs  on  their 
way  through  the  streets  to  the  port  for  export  had 
been  stopped,  seized  and  slaughtered  to  the  number 
of  thirty-four.  The  Sinn  Fein  Food  Committee, 
which  by  this  time  had  extended  its  organisation 
into  almost  every  parish  in  Ireland,  announced 
that  it  took  full  responsibility  for  this  action,  and 
that  no  more  Irish  swine  must  cross  the  Channel 
until  the  Irish  bacon  factories  had  enough  supplies 
to  meet  the  needs  of  the  Irish  people.  This  affair 
of  the  pigs — "  thirty-four  good  friends  of  Eng- 
land butchered  in  the  streets  of  Dublin,"  as  the 
Morning  Post  put  it  with  mordant  humour — 
apparently  moved  the  Chief  Secretary  to  action, 


118   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

Mr.  Duke  hurriedly  cancelled  his  engagements  in 
London  and  crossed  to  Dublin  on  February  23rd. 
It  was  at  once  evident  that  the  Executive  had 
decided  upon  a  nev^  policy.     Its  first  step  was  to 
attempt  to  defeat  the  "hunger-strike.".    In  recent 
weeks  persons  convicted  for  political  offences  had 
resorted  in  ever-increasing  numbers  to  this  device 
— an  example  which  ordinary  prisoners  tended  to 
follow — and  the  Executive,  doubtless  with  a  vivid 
memory  of  the  storm  which  followed  the  death  of 
Ashe,  had  permitted  the  device  to  become  an  almost 
infallible  means  of  jail  delivery.    Mr.  Duke,  in  a 
letter  to  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Cork,  now  announced 
that    "under    the    circumstances    now    existing, 
physical  disability,  due  to  wilful  and  systematic 
refusal  of  food,  ought  not  to  be  regarded  as  ground 
for   discharge."     At   the  same   time  the  aid  of 
Catholic  doctrine  on  the  subject  of  self -extinction 
was  invoked  in  support  of  the  civil  law.    In  a 
public  letter  dealing  with  cattle-driving,  the  Chief 
Secretary  wrote  that  he  was  "  not  surprised  that 
at  this  period,  when,  as  I  believe,  there  is  sound 
reason    to   anticipate    fruitful    results    from   the 
labours  of  the  Irish  Convention,  there  should  be  re- 
newed and  systematic  endeavours  to  disturb  and 
alarm  the  people  of  Ireland.     The  object  of  such 
transactions  is  too  obvious  for  any  disguise." 

Mr.  Dillon,  however,  in  his  speeches  saw  in 
the  recent  attitude  of  the  Executive  once  more  the 
working  of  the  "  hidden  hand."  As  the  last  of 
a  series  of  sinister  symptoms  he  instanced  the 
appointment  as  Chief  of  the  Imperial  General 
Staff  of  Sir  Henry  Wilson,  "  one  of  the  chief 
military  advisers  of  Sir  Edward  Carson  in  getting 
up  the  Ulster  rebellion."  Mr.  Dillon  suggested  that 
the  country  was  being  deliberately  allowed,  or  even 
invited,  to  drift  into  anarchy  in  order  to  justify 
a  policy  of  coming  forward  and  saying,  "the 
country  is  not  fit  for  Home  Rule,  and  the  first  thing 


THE  CONVENTION  119 

to  do  is  to  restore  order."  On  February  27th  a 
Communique  was  issued  by  the  General  Officer 
Commanding-in-Chief  in  Ireland  announcing  that 
"  the  outbreak  of  lawlessness  which  has  occurred 
in  County  Clare  rendered  it  necessary  on  Sunday 
(February  24th)  to  send  additional  troops  into  the 
county  to  assist  the  police."  The  county  was  de- 
clared a  special  military  area  under  the  Defence 
of  the  Realm  Regulations,  and  powers  were  there- 
by conferred  on  a  military  commandant  to  be 
"enforced  so  long  as  is  necessary  for  the  restora- 
tion of  order."  The  County  of  Clare  was  thence- 
forward administered  by  Brigadier-General  Bur- 
nett under  a  severe  regime  of  Martial  Law. 

These  were  the  circumstances  in  which  the  Con- 
vention reassembled  in  Dublin  on  February  26th.^ 
The  visit  of  its  delegation  to  London  appeared  to 
have  produced  no  very  solid  results.  It  was  un- 
fortunate in  its  occasion,  for  Mr.  Lloyd  George 
had  been  immersed  in  the  Versailles  Council  and 
in  the  "  crisis  "  which  followed  over  the  dismissal 
of  Sir  William  Robertson,  and  had  little  oppor- 
tunity to  give  the  tangled  affairs  of  the  Convention 
the  study  which  they  required.  The  delegates 
brought  back  to  Dublin  little  beyond  an  impression 
of  the  capital  importance  which  the  Cabinet 
attached  to  an  Irish  settlement.  At  the  first  of  the 
resumed  meetings  of  the  Convention  the  Chairman, 
who  had  stayed  in  London  after  the  rest  of  the 
delegates,  presented  to  the  Convention  a  report  on 
the  results  of  the  delegation  to  the  Cabinet.  The 
report  indicated  the  Government's  intention,  in  the 
event  of  the  Convention's  failure  to  agree,  to  re- 
sume responsibility  for  affecting  a  settlement ;  the 
Government's  ideas  corresponding  closely  with 
those  of  Lord  Midleton.  The  Government, 
however,     had    not     committed     itself    to     any 

*  Sir  Henry  Blake,  one  of  the  Southern  Unionist  delegates,  had  died 
during  the  adjournment. 


120   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

abrogation  of  the  standing  pledge  to  Unionist 
Ulster  against  coercion.  An  attempt  was  made, 
but  defeated,  to  adjourn  the  sittings  of  the  Conven- 
tion as  a  protest  against  the  state  of  Ireland.  On 
February  27th  the  official  corp.munique  contained 
only  the  statement  that  discussion  on  the  report  on 
the  delegation  to  London  was  continued.  On  the 
following  day  it  was  announced  that,  on  receiving 
a  report  from  the  Grand  Committee,  the  Conven- 
tion had  appointed  a  sub-committee  to  consider 
the  question  of  housing  in  urban  areas,  and  that 
the  Convention  was  adjourned  until  the  following 
week  to  enable  the  sub-committee  to  hold  its  first 
meeting.  The  appointment  of  such  a  committee  at 
this  late  stage  of  the  Convention's  business  was  re- 
garded with  some  suspicion  by  a  large  part  of  the 
Irish  public.  A  saying  attributed  to  Sir  F.  E. 
Smith  in  an  American  interview  was  recalled  in 
this  connection — that  the  best  thing  for  Ireland 
was  that  the  Convention  should  "  keep  on  talking." 


CHAPTER   IV. 

THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER. 

The  Convention  had  scarcely  resumed  its  sittings 
on  March  6th  when  they  were  interrupted  by  the 
death  on  the  same  day  of  Mr.  John  Redmond,  who 
for  some  little  time  had  been  prevented  by  ill- 
health  from  attending.  At  its  meeting  on  the 
following  day  the  Convention  passed  a  resolution 
placing  on  record  "  our  deep  sense  of  sorrow  at 
the  unexpected  death  of  Mr.  John  Redmond,  our 
faithful  and  devoted  colleague."  Mr.  Redmond, 
the  resolution  declared,  "  was  valued  by  all  as  a 
great  Irishman,  a  brilliant  Parliamentarian,  an 
honourable  opponent,  a  kindly  friend,  a  genial  and 
warm-hearted  comrade.  Throughout  the  proceed- 
ings of  the  Convention  his  wise  counsel  was  an  in- 
valuable aid  for  our  guidance.  He  looked  upon  the 
work  of  the  Convention  and  its  outcome  as  fraught 
with  the  most  vital  interests  for  the  Irish  people 
and  the  whole  Empire."  Then  out  of  respect  for 
the  memory  of  the  parliamentary  leader  the  Con- 
vention adjourned  until  after  the  funeral,  which 
took  place  at  Wexford  on  the  following  Saturday. 
Shortly  afterwards  occurred  the  death  of  Sir  A. 
McDowell,  the  ablest  of  the  Ulstermen,  whom,  un- 
fortunately, illness  had  prevented  from  attending 
many  of  the  sittings  at  Trinity  College.  The  in- 
fluence of  Mr.  Redmond  had  at  one  moment  nearly 
secured  agreement  between  the  bulk  of  the 
Nationalists  and  the  Southern  Unionist  and  non- 
party delegates.  If  that  influence  was  overborne 
while  he  remained  leader  of  the  Nationalist  Party 
and  a  member  of  the  Convention,  it  seemed  unlikely 
that  such  a  compromise  of  conflicting  interests 
should  be  again  afforded  now  that  he  was  removed 
by  death,  and  the  leadership  of  the  Parliamentary 


122  THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

Party  had  passed  to  Mr.  Dillon,  who  had  declined 
membership  in  the  Convention. 

Moreover,  a  more  unaccommodating  temper  had 
began  to  disclose  itself  on  the  other  side.  On 
March  4th  a  body  of  twenty-two  Southern 
Unionists  had  issued  a  "  Call  to  Unionists,"  in 
which  they  chose  this  moment  for  reaffirming 
their  "  conviction  that  in  the  maintenance  of 
the  Legislative  Union  between  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  and  in  the  firm,  just,  and  im- 
partial administration  of  the  law,  lies  the  only 
hope  for  the  future  of  our  country  and  the  security 
of  His  Majesty's  Dominions."  The  authors  of  this 
document  proceeded  to  set  up  a  Southern  Unionist 
Committee  and  to  enrol  supporters.  They  dis- 
puted the  validity  of  the  claim  of  Lord  Midleton 
and  the  other  representatives  of  the  Irish  Unionist 
Alliance  to  speak  in  the  name  of  Southern 
Unionists  in  their  attitude  in  the  Convention. 
The  Committee's  own  policy  for  the  solution  of  the 
Irish  question  was,  in  effect,  conscription,  tempered 
by  the  completion  of  land  purchase.  It  refused  to 
contemplate  any  departure  from  the  Union  beyond 
a  devolution  to  Ireland  of  such  local  affairs  as 
might  equally  be  devolved  upon  other  parts  of 
the  United  Kingdom  in  a  federal  system. 

The  support  which  the  Committee  attracted  was 
not  so  great  that  the  formation  of  this  Southern 
Unionist  "  cave "  need  be  regarded  as  seriously 
compromising  the  Midleton  policy  if  that  policy 
had  still  promised  to  secure  any  approach  to  "  sub- 
stantial agreement  "  in  the  Convention.  But  in 
the  existing  circumstances  it  tended  to  weaken  the 
position  of  the  Southern  Unionist  delegates;  still 
more,  it  tended  inevitably,  as  it  was  perhaps  chiefly 
intended,  to  confirm  the  Ulster  Unionist  delegates 
in  their  uncompromising  attitude — if  that  were 
needed.  An  inconclusive  result  of  the  Convention 
was  now  certain.    It  reassembled  on  March  12th, 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER  123 

and  this  week  sat  for  four  instead  of  three  days, 
announcing  that  discussion  on  the  Chairman's 
statement  on  the  results  of  the  delegation  to  the 
Cabinet,  and  on  the  statement  received  from  the 
Grand  Committee,  was  being  continued  during 
these  sittings.  This  formula  was  understood  to 
cover  the  preparation  of  the  Convention's  Report, 
which  was  expected  to  be  largely  of  a  historical 
character :  its  conclusions,  as  a  newspaper 
gossiper  said,  "  were  expected  to  be  a  guide  rather 
than  a  mandate  to  the  Government."  Pending  its 
appearance  public  attention  was  directed  to  the 
declaration  of  policy  by  Mr.  Dillon,  and  to  the 
two  by-elections  which  were  in  progress  in  Water- 
ford  and  East  Tyrone  in  consequence  of  Captain 
Redmond's  resignation  of  the  latter  seat  to  con- 
test his  father's  old  constituency  against  Sinn  Fein. 
Mr.  Dillon  went  to  Enniskillen,  where  he  played 
what  his  enemies  called  "the  old  tune."  He 
taunted  the  Sinn  Feiners  with  being  divided  in 
their  counsels  and  vague  in  their  aspirations,  but 
did  not  disclose  his  own  policy.  He  said  that  the 
Party  could  not  decide  upon  its  line  of  action  until 
the  Convention  had  issued  its  report.  The  Con- 
vention— here  Mr.  Dillon  found  himself  in  agree- 
ment with  Sinn  Fein — should  not  be  regarded  as 
a  genuine  instrument  of  self-determination;  and 
if  it  failed  to  lead  to  Home  Rule,  Mr.  Dillon  pro- 
mised to  denounce  England  for  being  false  to  her 
profession  in.  favour  of  small  nations.  Neverthe- 
less the  experiment  of  the  Convention  had  been 
worth  while  making;  the  Party  was  justified  in 
approving  it ;  and,  whatever  might  eventuate,  Mr. 
Dillon  (it  was  evident)  would  not  associate  him- 
self with  the  Republican  demand,  or  with  threats 
of  physical  force,  or  with  the  policy  of  abstention 
from  Westminster. 

*  This,   of  course,    waa  before   the   Government's   declaration  of  its 
ntention  to  extend  conscription  to  Ireland. 


124  THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

When  this  speech  was  being  made  it  was  already 
evident  that  the  contest  in  Waterford  would  end 
in  favour  of  the  Irish  Party's  candidate.  On 
Saturday,  March  23rd,  the  figures  were  announced. 
They  were:  Captain  Redmond,  1,242;  Dr.  V. 
White,  764. "^  Comment  was  largely  silenced 
owing  to  the  critical  character  which  the 
war  in  France  had  suddenly  assumed.  The 
Sinn  Feiners  attributed  their  defeat,  first,  to 
the  Unionist  vote  and,  secondly,  to  the  "  family  " 
feeling  in  favour  of  the  Irish  Party  candidate. 
"  Captain  Redmond's  election,"  wrote  The  Inde- 
pendent, "  caused  no  surprise.  ...  It  does  not 
prove  that  the  Nationalists  are  winning  all  along 
the  line.  Even  two  swallows  do  not  make  a  sum- 
mer. These  results  merely  prove  that  the  Party  at 
present  has  succeeded  in  retaining  some  of  its 
seats,  though  in  the  event  of  a  general  election 
the  Party  would  lose  considerably  more  than 
half  its  seats,  and  the  result  of  recent  contests 
in  no  way  modifies  this  view."  An  English  news- 
paper pointed  out  that  Captain  Redmond  had 
conducted  his  campaign  in  khaki,  and  that 
the  Union  Jack  was  his  emblem;  while  Sinn 
¥ein  headquarters  in  Dublin  announced  the 
result  as  "Another  British  Victory."  After 
all  allowances  had  been  made  Waterford  must 
have  induced  a  serious  reflection  among  the  Sinn 
Feiners.  It  was  all  very  well  for  them  to  jeer  at 
a  Unionist  and  Redmondite  collaboration  under 
the  Union  JacK.  The  very  fact  that  Unionists  and 
Redmondites  had  collaborated  under  the  Union 
Jack  constituted  an  important  criticism  of  what 
was  the  chief  claim  of  Sinn  Fein — that  for  the 
international  status  of  the  Irish  question. 

On  the  same  Saturday  an  important  Note 
was  issued  from  the  Convention.    The  public  was 

*  The  East  Tyrone  seat  was  also  held  by  the  Nationsiilists  by  a  sub- 
stantial majority. 


The  report  and  after       125 

informed  that  "  decisions  had  been  arrived  at  on 
all  material  points/'  and  that  the  Chairman  had 
been  instructed  to  draw  up  a  draft  report  which 
would  be  presented  to  the  Convention  after  the 
Easter  holidays.  Subsequently  Lord  Midleton, 
the  leader  of  the  Southern  Unionists  at  the  Con- 
vention, conferred  in  Dublin  with  the  Executive  of 
the  Irish  Unionist  Alliance  (the  political  organi- 
sation of  the  Southern  Unionists);  no  report  of 
tlie  proceedings  was  issued  to  the  Press,  but  it  was 
stated  unofficially  that  the  Alliance  had  been  in- 
formed of  the  course  of  events  in  Trinity  College 
up  to  date,  and  that  there  had  been  expressions 
both  of  approval  and  disapproval.  The  comment 
of  the  Press  became  more  optimistic,  though  it  was 
noted  that  nothing  had  been  said  in  the  Note  as  to 
the  unanimity  of  the  "  decisions  "  arrived  at.  It 
was  also  current  that  the  Report  of  the  Convention 
would  be  largely  recapitulatory  and  that  the  onus 
of  real  decisions  would  be  left  to  the  Government. 
Public  opinion  had,  however,  been  still  further 
diverted  from  the  Convention  by  a  revival 
of  what  was  called  the  "  Conscription  menace." 
In  view  of  events  in  France  the  War  Cabinet  had 
decided  on  the  necessity  of  an  increase  in  British 
man-power.  The  Tory  organs,  the  Morning  Post 
and  Globe,  seized  the  opportunity  to  raise  anew  the 
question  of  the  total  exemption  of  Ireland  from 
the  Military  Service  Acts.  The  Morning  Post  and 
the  Globe  had  always  been  urgent  for  Irish  Con- 
scription. But  now  for  the  first  time  the  Harms- 
worth  Press,  both  Times  and  Daily  Mail,  associ- 
ated themselves,  albeit  cautiously,  with  the  same 
demand.  It  was  argued  that  the  British  public, 
called  upon  for  further  sacrifices,  would  no  longer 
bear  with  the  state  of  affairs  which  prevailed  in 
Ireland.  On  April  1  the  Freeman's  Journal  hinted 
that  a  big  struggle  was  going  on  in  the  Cabinet, 
and  represented  that  both  from  the  military  and 


126  THE  CONVENTION   AND  SINN  FEIN 

the  political  point  of  view  differences  of  opinion 
on  the  question  of  Irish  conscription  existed.  Mr. 
Duke,  according  to  the  rumour,  intended  to  resign 
in  the  event  of  the  adoption  of  the  Irish  proposals 
of  the  War  Office.  It  v^as  also  believed  that  for 
one  reason  or  another  the  Irish  Unionists  as  a 
v^hole  shared  the  cautious  view  of  Mr.  Duke. 
Certainly  the  attitude  of  the  Irish  Parliamentary 
Party  was  not  in  doubt,  and  Mr.  Devlin  renewed 
his  pledges  of  opposition  in  the  course  of  an 
electioneering  speech  in  Tyrone. 

The  suggestion  came  forward  inevitably  that 
conscription  should  be  introduced  in  Ireland 
as  a  result  of  a  "  deal  "  between  the  Home  Rulers 
and  the  Government.  Thus,  if  the  Convention 
should  come  to  a  decision  in  favour  of  Home  Rule 
the  Uovernment  would  undertake  legislation  as 
soon  as  the  principle  of  Irish  conscription  had 
been  asserted.  Mr.  Garvin  in  the  Observer  pro- 
posed that  application  of  the  measure  should  be 
left  to  "  statesmanship  "  in  the  immediate  future. 
The  difficulties  of  mixing  up  the  matter  of  political 
settlement — if  there  was  a  sincere  desire  for 
political  settlement — with  a  proposal  of  conscrip- 
tion were  obvious.  Mr.  Lloyd  George  in  pledging 
the  Government  to  legislate  in  accordance  with  the 
recommendations  of  the  Convention  had  made  no 
condition  save  that  of  substantial  agreement 
among  Irishmen  themselves.  No  sort  of  suggestion 
of  a  deal  with  Great  Britain  on  the  basis  of  con- 
scription had  been  raised.  From  the  point  of  view 
of  the  Freeman's  Journal  or  the  Party,  however, 
the  aim  of  the  agitators  for  conscription  was  not 
so  much  that  of  securing  soldiers  from  Ireland  as 
that  of  ruining  the  prospects  of  settlement.  The 
Liberal  Press,  the  Daily  Chronicle,  the  Daily  News 
and  the  Manchester  Guardian,  put  forward  coun- 
sels of  moderation.  "  The  suggestion,"  said  the 
Daily  Chronicle,  "  that  it  would  be  a  wise  and 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER  127 

bold  thing  for  the  Government  to  extend  conscrip- 
tion to  Ireland  shows  a  lamentable  ignorance  of 
tne  facts.  Such  a  policy  would  aggravate  the 
Irish  problem  and  bring  no  appreciable  help  to 
the  army." 

On  Saturday,  April  6,  the  Press  unanimously 
announced  that  the  Cabinet  had  come  to  a  decision 
of  bringing  Ireland  within  the  scope  of  the  new 
Man  Power  Bill.  According  to  the  best  informed 
journals  the  principle  of  Irish  conscription  was 
to  be  asserted.  At  tne  same  time  the  Report  of  the 
Convention  came  into  the  Government's  hands;  it 
was  laid  upon  the  Table  of  the  House  of  Commons 
on  April  9th.  The  Press  of  that  morning  stated 
that  the  Government  were  of  opinion  that  the  Re- 
port sufficiently  satisfied  the  condition  of  sub- 
stantial agreement  to  justify  it  in  presenting 
immediately  to  Parliament  a  "  Bill  for  a  Final 
Settlement  of  the  Irish  Question."  The  supporters 
of  the  Government  denied  that  either  plan  was 
conditional  upon  the  other;  a  coincidence  had 
occurred,  a  fortunate  coincidence,  and  nothing 
more.  In  Ireland,  however,  even  among  Unionists, 
the  value  of  the  coincidence  was  disputed ;  the  Irish 
Tiines  declared  that  Ireland's  "  obligation  to  her- 
self and  humanity  "  should  have  no  sort  of  con- 
nection with  her  form  of  government,  and  the  same 
newspaper  suggested  that  in  his  "  earnest  desire 
for  a  settlement " — for  a  coincidence  of  events — 
the  Premier  had  read  into  the  report  more  than  it 
contained.  The  Dublin  Corporation  called  a  meet- 
ing and  warned  the  Government  against  "  the  dis- 
astrous effect "  of  the  "  insane  proposal "  of  con- 
scription. One  of  the  Redmondite  members  of  the 
Council  stated  that  Nationalist  Ireland  would  not 
accept  the  proposal  even  if  it  were  the  outcome  of 
the  most  satisfactory  political  settlement;  and  he 
moved  an  addendum  to  the  resolution  asking  the 
Lord  Mayor  to  invite  Messrs.  Dillon,  De  Valera, 


128  THE  CONVENTION   AND   SINN  FEIN 

Devlin,  A.  GriflBth,  and  representatives  of  the 
Trades  Union  Congress  to  meet  him  in  conference 
for  a  united  opposition  to  conscription,  and  to 
consider  the  establishment  of  an  All-Ireland 
Covenant.  As  regards  the  actual  nature  of  the 
Convention  Report  it  was  now  known  for  certain 
that  it  amounted  merely  to  a  record  of  proceedings 
in  chronological  order,  of  proposals  made,  decision? 
taken,  of  voting,  and  of  a  statement  of  the  views 
of  the  various  bodies  into  which  the  Convention 
had  divided.  ^ 

On  April  9th,  when  the  Premier  introduced  his 
Man  Power  proposals  to  the  House  of  Commons 
the  prophets  who  had  foretold  that  conscription 
would  be  contingent  on  Home  Rule,  or  vice  versa, 
proved  to  have  been  in  error.  He  said  that  the  re- 
markable Convention  which  had  just  been  held  in 
Ireland  furnished  the  Government  with  another 
opportunity  (here  Mr.  Byrne  interjected,  "  Of 
breaking  its  word ")  of  approaching  the  vexed 
question  of  Irish  autonomy  with  more  hope  of 
success.  "  But,"  he  added,  "  there  must  be  no  mis- 
apprehension. The  questions  (of  conscription  and 
Home  Rule)  do  not  stand  together.  Each  must  be 
taken  on  its  merits."  The  Premier  justified  com- 
pulsion in  Ireland  by  quoting  from  speeches  of 
Mr.  Redmond  and  Mr.  Dillon  in  support  of  the 
war.  Had  not  Mr.  Redmond  said  in  1916  that  he 
opposed  conscription  on  the  grounds  of  expediency 
not  of  principle?  Had  not  Mr.  Dillon  said  that 
that  he  would  not  hesitate  to  support  conscription, 
to-morrow  if  he  thought  it  necessary  to  maintain 
liberty?  Mr.  Dillon  took  up  the  challenge  in  his 
replies.  If  Irish  liberties  were  at  stake  (he  said) 
he  would  still  not  hesitate  to  support  Conscription. 
The  inexpediency  of  the  measure  even  from  the 
Allied  standpoint  still  held  good;  for  "you  take 
a  decision  which  will  plunge  Ireland  into  blood- 
shed and  open  up  a  new  war  front."    He  might 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER  129 

have  quoted  from  the  significant  statement  of  the 
Irish  Roman  Catholic  Bishops  which  had  been 
published  on  that  very  day  in  the  Dublin  Press  :— 
"  What   betv^een    mismanagement    and    mischief 
making  this  country  has  already  been  deplorably 
upset,  and  it  would  be  a  fatal  mistake,  surpassing 
the  worst  blunders  of  the  past,  to  furnish  a  telling 
plea  now  for  desperate  courses  by  the  attempt  to 
enforce  Conscription."     The  Irish  Parliamentary 
leader  also  attacked  the  Premier's  proposal  from 
the  ground  of  principle,  and  he  asked  what  justice 
there   could   be   in   the  Government's   taking  its 
decision  without  the  consultation  of  one  single 
Irish  representative. 

All    turned   theoretically   on   the    question    of 
status,  and  the  Premier  scored  by  pointing  out  (as 
Sinn  Feiners  had  often  done)  that  the  Parlia- 
mentary Party  by  accepting  the  Home  Rule  Act 
of  1914  had  acquiesced  in  the  Imperial  right  to 
compel  Irishmen  to  military  service.    On  the  other 
hand,  in  1917,  by  the  establishment  of  the  Irish 
Convention — if  the  Convention  were  not  a  farce — 
the  Government  had  admitted  an  Irish  right  of 
self-determination.      Mr.    Lloyd   George's    refer- 
ences to  the  Convention  in  his  speech  of  April  9th, 
were,  to  put  it  mildly,  unfortunate.    It  transpired 
that  he  had  not  yet  had  time  to  read  the  Report. 
But,    apparently,  he  had   gathered  vaguely   that 
there  had  not  been  complete  unanimity  at  the  Con- 
vention.    "  I  understand  that  it  reported  by  a 
majority.     I  fear  the  majority  is  not  such  as  to 
justify  the  Government  in  saying  that  it  represents 
substantial  agreement.     .     .      "     Therefore  the 
Government  would  take  the  responsibility  of  sub- 
mitting  to   Parliament    such    proposals    for   the 
establishment  of   self-government   in   Ireland   as 
they  thought  "  just."     By  these  words,  in  effect, 
the  Premier  threw  over  the  whole  case  for  the  Con- 
vention, that  body  having  been  set  up  in  1917  for 

1 


130  THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

the  alleged  reason  that  the  Government  could  not 
say  in  what  "  justice  "  to  Ireland  consisted,  and 
had  determined  to  leave  the  matter  to  Irishmen 
themselves.  Mr.  Devlin  disclosed  the  fact  (of 
which  the  Premier  professed  ignorance)  that  a  sub- 
committee of  the  Convention  had  reported  on  the 
application  of  conscription  to  Ireland,  and  de- 
clared it  to  be,  assuming  the  establishment 
of  an  Irish  Parliament,  "  impossible  "  without  the 
consent  and  co-operation  of  that  Parliament. 

While  the  Man  Power  Bill  was  being  hurried 
through  the  House  of  Commons  amid  protests  from 
Ireland — protests  that  the  Dublin  Correspondent 
of  The  Times  described  as  the  most  violent  within 
the  memory  of  man — the  Blue  Book  containing  the 
Report  of  the  Proceedings  of  the  Irish  Convention 
was  issued  to  the  public.  It  contained  Sir  H. 
Plunkett's  Report  of  the  Proceedings,  a  Report  of 
the  Ulster  Unionist  delegates,  a  Note  by  the  Pro- 
vost and  the  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  a  Report  by 
twenty-two  Nationalist  members  of  the  Conven- 
tion, a  Note  by  the  majority  of  the  Labour  repre- 
sentatives, a  Note  by  the  Earl  of  Dunraven,  and  a 
Note  by  the  Southern  Unionists.^  It  was  found 
that  all  the  Southern  Unionists,  a  majority  of 
Nationalists,  and  five  out  of  the  seven  Labour  re- 
presentatives were  agreed  that  the  scheme  of  Irish 
self-government  set  out  in  paragraph  42  of  the 
Report  of  the  Proceedings  should  be  immediately 
passed  into  law.  Paragraph  42  provided  for  an 
Irish  Parliament  (King,  Senate  and  Commons), 
and  at  the  same  time,  for  the  maintenace  of  the 
supreme  power  and  authority  of  the  Parliament  of 
the  United  Kingdom.     The  minority  of  eighteen 

*  This  sub-committee  consisted  of  two  Irish  Peers,  a  Southern  Unionist 
Delegates,  and  two  Soldser  Nationalists.  The  report  was  unanimeus,  and 
was  adopted  by  the  Convention  by  a  majority 

f  Paragraph  42  of  the  Report  cf  the  Proceedings  will  be  found  in  the 
Appendix  to  this  Volume,  together  with  the  Ulster  Report,  the  Note  of 
the  Nationalist  Majority  and  Minority  Nationalist  Report. 


THE  REUORT  AND  AFTER  131 

which  voted  against  this  provision  was  composed 
wholly  of  Northern  Unionists.     Certain  matters, 
such  as  Peace  and  War,  the  Coinage,  Army  and 
Navy,  Harbours  for  naval  and  military  purposes, 
were  definitely  excluded  from  the  powers  of  the 
Irish  Parliament.     The  Irish  Police  and  Postal 
services  were  to  be  under  unified  control  during  the 
war,  subject  to  Imperial  exigencies,  but  the  ad- 
ministration of   these   services  would   after  the 
cessation  of  hostilities  become  automatically  sub- 
ject to  the  Irish  Parliament.     There  were  to  be 
certain   restrictions   on  the   power  of   the  Irish 
Parliament  on  matters   within   its   competence, 
as  in  the  Home  Rule  Act  of  1914.    All-important, 
however,    were    the    sections    in    paragraph   42 
relating    to   Finance    and    the    Concessions    to 
Unionists.     The    Nationalists    of    both    sections 
proved   to  have   been    equally   generous   to   the 
Irish  Unionist  and  Protestant  minority  in  their 
offer     of    safeguards.       They     were     ready     to 
accept  the  principle  that  40  per  cent,  of  the  mem- 
bership of  the  Irish  Commons  should  be  guaranteed 
to  Unionists.     They  consented  that  for  a  period 
there  should  be  summoned  to  the  Commons  20  mem- 
bers nominated  by  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  with  a 
view  to  the  due  representation  of  interests  not 
otherwise  adequately  represented  in  the  provinces 
of  Leinster,  Munster  and  Connaught,  and  that  20 
additional  members  should  be  elected  by  Ulster 
constituencies,  to  represent  commercial,  industrial, 
and  agricultural  interests  (in  the  latter  suggestion 
an  idea  had  evidently  been  borrowed  from  Mr. 
George  Russell's  celebrated  pamphlet   Thoughts 
for   a   Convention).    The  e  xtra-representation  of 
Ulster  would  not  cease  except  on  an  adverse  de- 
cision by  a  three-fourth's  majority  of  both  Houses 
sitting  together.    This  last  sub-section  was  carried 
by  26   votes  to  20,  the  delegates  of  the  Ulster 
Unionist  Council  abstaining. 


132  THE   CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

In  regard  to  Finance,  on  the  sub-section  post- 
poning the  Control  of  Customs  and  Excise  for 
lurther  consideration  until  alter  the  war,  and  pro- 
viding that  the  question  of  such  control  should  be 
considered  and  decided  by  the  United  Kingdom 
Parliament  withm  seven  years  after  the  conclusion 
of  peace,  tiie  voting  was  very  close — 38  to  34-  The 
Ulster  delegates  voted  in  the  minority  together 
with  a  large  number  of  leading  Nationalists, 
notably,  tlie  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  the  Bishop  of 
Down  and  Connor,  Mr.  Joseph  Devlin  and  Mr. 
W.  M.  Murphy.  The  delegates  of  the  Irish  Party 
were  themselves  divided,  ^Ir.  Devlin  being  on  one 
side  and  Captain  Stephen  Gwynn  on  the  other.  On 
this  issue  there  had  been,  according  to  the  Chair- 
man's draft  report,  three  clearly  defined  bodies  of 
opinion  in  the  Convention:  the  Ulster  Unionists 
advocating  the  maintenance  of  fiscal  unity  within 
the  United  Kins^dom:  a  section  of  Nationalists  in- 
sisting  on  complete  fiscal  autonomy  for  Ireland; 
and  the  Southern  Unionists,  with  the  adherence  of 
a  majority  of  Nationalists  and  the  majority  of  the 
labour  members,  agreeing  to  a  compromise  which 
left  to  Ireland  the  proceedfs  of  all  sources  of  revenue 
and  the  imposition  of  all  taxes  other  than  Customs. 

On  February  25,  191^^,  the  Premier,  who  had  been 
informed  of  events,  communicated  to  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett  a  letter  which  contained,  among  other 
suggestions,  certain  proposals  regarding  Customs 
and  Excise."  Mr.  Lloyd  George  opposed  the  de- 
mand for  fiscal  autonomy;  for  the  transfer  of 
Customs  and  Excise  would  be  ''  impossible  in  the 
midst  of  a  great  war,'"  and  might  also  be  ''  incom- 
patible with  the  federal  reorganisation  of  the 
United  Kingdom.''  After  that  the  Convention 
took  up  a  resolution  of  Lord  MacDonnell  which 
embodied,  with  variation  in  detail,  some  of  the 
suggestions  contained  in  the  Premier's  letter.    But 

*  See  Appendix. 


THE  REPORT  AX  DAETER  133 

whereas  the  Premier  had  proposed  that  a  Royal 
Commission  should  sit  aft-er  the  war  and  ''re- 
examine "  the  hnancial  relations  of  Ireland  and 
England,  Lord  MacDonneil's  motion  made  it  clear 
that  a  decision  as  regards  the  "  imposition  of 
Customs  and  Excise "'  should  be  arrived  at  by  the 
Imperial  Parliament  within  seven  years  after  the 
cessation  of  hostilities.  Eor  the  purposes  of  the 
decision  a  number  of  Irish  representatives  pro- 
portioned to  the  population  of  Ireland  should  be 
called  to  the  Parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom. 
The  Xationalists  who  consented  to  the  compromise 
explained  in  a  Xote  that,  in  their  belief,  the  pro- 
posed Parliament  would  be  an  efi'ective  instrument 
in  obtaining  further  powers  by  general  consent; 
that  the  proposal  to  pay  into  an  Irish  Exchequer 
the  fuU  proceeds  of  Irish  taxation,  direct  and  in- 
direct, subject  only  to  an  agreed  contribution  to 
Imperial  expenditure,  would  give  the  Irish  Govern- 
ment means  for  internal  development:  and  that 
the  claim  of  an  Irish  Parliament  to  be  the  sole  tax- 
ing authority  for  Ireland  must  still  hold.  The 
Xote  was  signed  by  25  X'ationalists  and  3  Liberals 
(Lords  Granard  and  MacDonnell  and  Sir  Bertram 
Windle).  The  22  X'ationalists  who  drew  up  a 
Minority  Report^  dwelt  largely  upon  the  subject. 
This  Report,  which  had  the  support  of  three  clerics 
(Dr.  O'Donnell.  Dr.  Hartv  and  Dr.  MacRorv).  of 
Mr.  Devlin,  M.P..  of  Mr!  Liindon.  M.P.,  of  Mr. 
Harbison,  M.P.,  and  Mr.  W.  M.  Murphy  proposed 
the  recognition  of  Irish  rights  over  Customs  and 
Excise,  hut  agreed  to  a  suspension  of  such  rights 
until  after  the  war,  to  a  guarantee  for  a  reasonable 
period  of  Eree  Trade  between  Ireland  and  England 
"  in  articles  which  were  the  produce  or  manu- 
facture of  either  country,"  and  to  a  fixed  statutory 
contribution  to  Imperial  Expenses." 

In  dealing  with  the  question  of  Irish  representa- 
tion   at    Westminster    the    X^ationalists    of    the 


134  THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

minority  stated  that  they  would  have  preferred 
that  all  representation  at  Westminster  should  ceape 
for  the  time  being.  The  report  of  the  proceedings 
does  not  indicate  that  the  Nationalist  members  of 
the  Convention  shov^ed  at  any  time  a  very  strong 
feeling  on  this  point.  In  a  scheme  of  Colonial 
Home  Rule  drawn  up  by  the  Bishop  of  Raphoe 
during  the  autumn,  for  submission  to  a  sub-com- 
mittee of  the  Grand  Committee,  it  had  been  pro- 
posed that  "  representation  in  the  Parliament  of 
the  United  Kingdom  should  cease  until  there  was 
a  Federal  Parliament."  The  Unionists,  however, 
both  of  the  North  and  South,  intimated  that  re- 
presentation at  Westminster  was  for  them  a  sine 
qua  non.  On  the  Nationalist's  side  it  was  stated 
that,  while  they  did  not  favour  the  continuance  of 
representation  in  the  Imperial  Parliament,  they 
did  not  look  upon  its  cessation  as  a  sine  qua  non. 
Doubts  were  expressed  as  to  whether  Irish  repre- 
sentatives at  Westminster  should  be  directly 
elected  or  delegated  by  the  Irish  Parliament.  In 
the  final  voting  (paragraph  42)  it  was  decided  that 
forty-two  Irish  members  should  be  elected  to  the 
Imperial  Parliament  on  the  panel  system. 

We  may  here  give  the  "  letter  of  transmission'' 
of  the  8th  of  April,  1918,  in  which  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett,  addressing  the  British  Prime  Minister, 
summed  up  results.  : — "I  have  the  honour  to 
transmit  herewith  the  Report  of  the  Proceedings 
of  the  Irish  Convention.  For  the  immediate 
object  of  the  Government  the  Report  tells  all 
that  needs  to  be  told :  it  shows  that  in  the 
Convention,  whilst  it  was  not  found  possible 
to  overcome  the  objections  of  the  Ulster  Unionists, 
a  majority  of  Nationalists,  all  the  Southern 
Unionists,  and  five  out  of  the  seven  Labour  repre- 
sentatives were  agreed  that  the  scheme  of  Irish 
self-government  set  out  in  paragraph  42  of  the 
Report  should  be  immediately  passed  into  law.    A 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER          135 

minority  of  Nationalists  propose  a  scheme  which 
differs  in  only  one  important  particular  from  that 
of  the  majority.  The  Convention  has,  therefore, 
laid  a  foundation  of  Irish  agreement  unpre- 
cedented in  history.  I  recognise  that  action  in 
Parliament  upon  the  result  of  our  deliberations 
must  largely  depend  upon  public  opinion.  Without 
a  knowledge  of  the  circumstances  which,  at  the 
termination  of  our  proceedings,  compelled  us  to 
adopt  an  unusual  method  of  presenting  the  results 
of  our  deliberations,  the  public  might  be  misled  as 
to  what  has  actually  been  achieved.  It  is,  there- 
fore, necessary  to  explain  our  procedure. 

"  We  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  Govern- 
ment contemplated  immediate  legislation  upon  the 
results  of  our  labours.     The   work  of  an   Irish 
settlement,  suspended  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war, 
is  now  felt  to  admit  of  no  further  postponement. 
In  the  Dominions  and  in  the  United  States,  as  well 
as  in  other  allied  countries,  the  unsettled  Irish 
Question  is  a  disturbing  factor,  both  in  regard  to 
war  effort  and  peace  aims.     Nevertheless,  urgent 
as  our  task  was,  we  could  not  complete  it  uniil 
every  possibility  of  agreement  had  been  explored. 
The  moment  this  point  was  reached — and  you  will 
not  be  surprised  that  it  took  us  eight  months  to 
reach  it — we  decided  to  issue  our  Report  with  the 
least  possible  delay.     To  do  this  we  had  to  avoid 
further  controversy  and  protracted  debate.    I  was, 
therefore,  on  March  22nd,  instructed  to  draft  a 
Report  which  should  be  a  mere  narrative  of  the 
Convention's  proceedings,  with  a  statement,   for 
the  information  of  the  Government,  of  the  con- 
clusions   adopted,    whether    unanimously    or    by 
majorities.    It  was  hoped  that  this  Report  might 
be  unanimously  signed,  and  it  was  understood  that 
any  groups  or  individuals  would  be  free  to  append 
to  it  such  statements  as  they  deemed  necessary  to 
give  expression  to  their  views.    The  Draft  Report 


136  THE  CONVENTION   AND  SINN  FEIN 

was  circulated  on  March  30th,  and  discussed  and 
amended  on  April  4th  and  5th.  The  accuracy  of 
the  narrative  was  not  challenged,  though  there  was 
considerable  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  relative 
prominence  which  should  be  given  to  some  parts 
of  the  proceedings.  As  time  pressed  it  was  decided 
not  to  have  any  discussion  upon  a  Majority  Report, 
nor  upon  any  Minority  Reports  or  other  statements 
which  might  be  submitted.  The  Draft  Report  was 
adopted  by  a  majority,  and  the  Chairman  and 
Secretary  were  ordered  to  sign  it,  and  forward  it 
to  the  Government.  A  limit  of  twenty- four  hours 
was,  by  agreement,  put  upon  the  reception  of  any 
other  reports  or  statements,  and  in  the  afternoon 
of  April  5th  the  Convention  adjourned  sine  die. 

"  The  public  is  thus  provided  with  no  Majority 
Report,  in  the  sense  of  a  reasoned  statement  in 
favour  of  the  conclusions  upon  which  the  majority 
are  agreed,  but  is  left  to  gather  from  the  narrative 
of  proceedings  what  the  contents  of  such  a  report 
would  have  been.    On  the  other  hand,  both  the 
Ulster  Unionists  and  a  minority  of  the  Nationalists 
have   presented   Minority    Reports   covering    the 
whole  field  of  the  Convention's  enquiry.     The  re- 
sult of  this  procedure  is  to  minimise  the  agreement 
reached,  and  to  emphasise  the  disagreement.     In 
these  circumstances,  I  conceive  it  to  be  my  duty 
as  Chairman  to  submit  such  explanatory  observa- 
tions as  are  required  to  enable  the  reader  of  the 
Report  and  the  accompanying  documents  to  gain 
a  clear  idea  of  the  real  effect  and  significance  of  the 
Convention's  achievement.    I  may  assume  a  know- 
ledge of  the  broad  facts  of  the  Irish  Question.    It 
will  be  agreed  that,  of  recent  years,  the  greatest 
obstacle  to    its    settlement    has   been  the    Ulster 
difficulty.    There  seemed  to  be  two  possible  issues 
to  our  deliberations.     If  a  scheme  of  Irish  self- 
government  could  be  framed  to  which  the  Ulster 
Unionists  would  give  their  adherence,  then  the 


THE  REPORT  AND  AETER  137 

Convention  might  produce  a  unanimous  Report. 
Failing  such  a  consummation,  we  might  secure 
agreement,  either  complete  or  substantial,  between 
the  Nationalist,  the  Southern  Unionist  and  the 
labour  representatives.  Many  entertained  the  hope 
that  the  effect  of  such  a  striking  and  wholly  new 
development  would  be  to  induce  Ulster  to  recon- 
sider its  position. 

"  Perhaps  unanimity  was  too  much  to  expect.  Be 
this  as  it  may,  neither  time  nor  effort  was  spared 
in  striving  for  that  goal,  and  there  were  moments 
when  its  attainment  seemed  possible.  There  was, 
however,  a  portion  of  Ulster  where  a  majority 
claimed  that,  if  Ireland  had  the  right  to  separate 
herself  from  the  rest  of  the  United  Kingdom,  they 
had  the  same  right  to  separation  from  the  rest  of 
Ireland.  But  the  time  had  gone  by  when  any  other 
section  of  the  Irish  people  would  accept  the  parti- 
tion of  their  country  even  as  a  temporary  expedient. 
Hence,  the  Ulster  Unionist  members  in  the  Con- 
vention remained  there  only  in  the  hope  that  some 
form  of  Home  Rule  would  be  proposed  which  might 
modify  the  determination  of  those  they  represented 
to  have  neither  part  nor  lot  in  an  Irish  Parliament. 
The  Nationalists  strove  to  win  them  by  concessions ; 
but  they  found  themselves  unable  to  accept  any  of 
the  schemes  discussed  and  the  only  scheme  of  Irish 
government  they  presented  to  the  Convention  was 
confined  to  the  exclusion  of  their  entire  Province. 
Long  before  the  hope  of  complete  unanimity  had 
passed,  the  majority  of  the  Convention  were  con- 
sidering the  possibilities  of  agreement  between 
the  Nationalists  and  the  Southern  Unionists 
Lord  Midleton  was  the  first  to  make  a  concrete 
proposal  to  this  end.  The  Report  shows  that 
in  November  he  outlined  to  the  Grand  Committee, 
and  in  December  brought  before  the  Convention, 
what  looked  like  a  workable  compromise.  It 
accepted  self-government  for  Ireland.     In  return 


138  THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

for  special  minority  representation  in  the  Irish 
Parliament,  already  conceded  by  the  Nationalists, 
it  offered  to  that  Parliament  complete  power 
over  internal  legislation  and  administration  and, 
in  matters  of  finance,  over  direct  taxation 
and  Excise.  But,  although  they  agreed  that 
the  Customs  revenue  should  be  paid  into  the  Irish 
Exchequer,  the  Southern  Unionists  insisted  upon 
the  permanent  reservation  to  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment of  the  power  to  fix  the  rates  of  Customs  duties. 
By  far  the  greater  part  of  our  time  and  attention 
was  occupied  by  this  one  question,  whether  the  im- 
position of  Custom  duties  should  or  should  not  be 
under  the  control  of  the  Irish  Parliament.  The 
difficulties  of  the  Irish  Convention  may  be  summed 
up  in  two  words — Ulster  and  Customs. 

"  The  Ulster  difficulty  the  whole  world  knows; 
but  how  the  Customs  question  came  to  be  one  of 
vital  principle,  upon  the  decision  of  which  de- 
pended the  amount  of  agreement  that  could  be 
reached  in  the  Convention,  needs  to  be  told.  The 
tendency  of  recent  political  thought  among  con- 
stitutional Nationalists  has  been  towards  a  form 
of  government  resembling  as  closely  as  possible 
that  of  the  Dominions,  and,  since  the  geographical 
position  of  Ireland  imposes  obvious  restrictions  in 
respect  of  naval  and  military  affairs,  the  claim  for 
Dominion  Home  Rule  was  concentrated  upon  a 
demand  for  unrestricted  fiscal  powers.  Without 
separate  Customs  and  Excise  Ireland  would, 
according  to  this  view,  fail  to  attain  a  national 
status  like  that  enjoyed  by  the  Dominions.  Upon 
this  issue  the  Nationalists  made  a  strong  case,  and 
were  able  to  prove  that  a  considerable  number  o^ 
leading  commercial  men  had  come  to  favour  fiscal 
autonomy  as  part  of  an  Irish  settlement.  In  the 
p-^esent  state  of  public  opinion  in  Ireland,  it  was 
feared  that  without  Customs  no  scheme  the  Con- 
vention   recommended    would    receive    sufficient 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER  139 

measure  of  support  to  secure  legislation.  To 
obviate  any  serious  disturbance  of  the  trade 
of  the  United  Kingdom,  the  Nationalists  were 
prepared  to  agree  to  a  free  trade  arrangement 
between  the  two  countries.  But  this  did  not 
overcome  the  difficulties  of  the  Southern  Unionists, 
who  on  this  point  agreed  with  the  Ulster 
Unionists.  They  were  apprehensive  that  a  separate 
system  of  Customs  control,  however  guarded, 
might  impair  the  authority  of  the  United 
Kingdom  over  its  external  trade  policy.  Neither 
could  they  consent  to  any  settlement  which  was,  in 
their  judgment,  'incompatible  with  Ireland's  full 
participation  in  a  scheme  of  United  Kingdom 
federation,  should  that  come  to  pass. 

"  It  was  clear  that  by  means  of  mutual  con- 
cessions agreement  between  the  Nationalists  and 
the  Southern  Unionists  could  be  reached  on  all  other 
points.  On  this  important  point,  however,  a  sec- 
tion of  the  Nationalists,  who  have  embodied  their 
views  in  a  separate  R^eport,  held  that  no  com- 
promise was  possible.  On  the  other  hand,  a 
majority  of  the  Nationalists  and  the  whole  body 
of  Southern  Unionists  felt  that  nothing  effective 
could  result  from  their  work  in  the  Convention 
unless  some  understanding  was  reached  upon 
Customs  which  would  render  an  agreement  on  a 
complete  scheme  attainable.  Neither  side  was 
willing  to  surrender  the  principle ;  but  both  sides 
were  willing,  in  order  that  a  Parliament  should  be 
at  once  established,  to  postpone  a  legislative 
decision  upon  the  ultimate  control  of  Customs  and 
Excise.  At  the  same  time  each  party  has  put  on 
record,  in  separate  notes  subjoined  to  the  Report, 
its  claim  respecting  the  final  settlement  of  this 
question.  A  decision  having  been  reached  upon 
the  cardinal  issue,  the  majority  of  the  Convention 
carried  a  series  of  resolutions  which,  together,  form 
a    complete    scjieme    of    self-government.     This 


140  THE   CONVENTION   AND  SINN  FEIN 

scheme  provides  for  the  establishment  of  a 
Parliament  for  the  whole  of  Ireland  with  an 
Executive  responsible  to  it,  and  with  full  powers 
over  all  internal  legislation,  administration  and 
direct  taxation.  Pending  a  decision  of  the  fiscal 
question,  it  is  provided  that  the  imposition  of 
duties  of  Customs  and  Excise  shall  remain  with 
the  Imperial  Parliament,  but  that  the  whole  of  the 
proceeds  of  these  taxes  shall  be  paid  into  the  Irish 
Exchequer.  A  joint  Exchequer  Board  is  to  be  set 
up  to  determine  the  Irish  true  revenue,  and  Ire- 
land is  to  be  represented  upon  the  Board  of 
Customs  and  Excise  of  the  United  Kingdom  The 
principle  of  representation  in  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment was  insisted  upon  from  the  first  by  the 
Southern  Unionists,  and  the  Nationalists  conceded 
it.  It  was  felt,  however,  that  there  were  strong 
reasons  for  providing  that  the  Irish  representa- 
tives at  Westminster  should  be  elected  by  the  Irish 
Parliament  rather  than  directly  by  the  con- 
stituencies, and  this  was  the  arrangement  adopted. 
It  was  accepted  in  principle  that  there  should  be 
an  Irish  contribution  to  the  cost  of  Imperial  ser- 
vices, but,  owing  to  lack  of  data,  it  was  not  found 
possible  in  the  Convention  to  fix  any  definite  sum. 

"  It  was  agreed  that  the  Irish  Parliament  should 
consist  of  two  Houses — a  Senate  of  64  members 
and  a  House  of  Commons  of  200.  The  principle 
underlying  the  composition  of  the  Senate  is  the 
representation  of  interests.  This  is  affected  by 
giving  representation  to  commerce,  industry  and 
labour,  the  County  Councils,  the  Churches,  learned 
institutions  and  the  Peerage.  In  constituting  the 
House  of  Commons  the  Nationalists  offered  to 
guarantee  forty  per  cent,  of  its  membership  to  the 
Unionists.  It  was  agreed  that,  in  the  South, 
adequate  representation  for  Unionists  could  only 
be  secured  by  nomination;  but,  as  the  Ulster  re- 
presentatives had  informed  the  Convention  that 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER  l4l 

those  for  whom  they  spoke  could  not  accept  the 
principle  of  nomination,  provision  was  made  m  the 
scheme  for  an  extra  representation  of  .Ulster  by 
direct  election.  The  majority  of  the  Labour  re- 
presentatives associated  themselves  with  the 
iNjationalists  and  Southern  Unionists  in  building 
up  the  Constitution,  with  the  provisions  of  whicli 
they  found  themselves  in  general  agreement.  They 
frankly  objected,  however,  to  the  principle  of 
nomination  and  to  what  they  regarded  as  the  in- 
adequate representation  of  Labour  in  the  Upper 
House.  Throughout  our  proceedings  they  helped 
in  every  way  towards  the  attainment  of  agreement. 
Nor  did  they  press  their  own  special  claims  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  make  more  difficult  the  work  already 
difficult  enough,  of  agreeing  upon  a  constitution. 

"  I  trust  I  have  said  enough  to  enable  the  reader 
of  this  Report  and  the  accompanying  documents 
to  form  an  accurate  judgment  upon  the  nature  and 
difficulties  of  the  task  before  the  Convention  and 
upon  its  actual  achievement.  While,  technically, 
it  Avas  our  function  to  draft  a  Constitution  for  our 
country,  it  would  be  more  correct  to  say  that  we 
had  to  find  a  way  out  of  the  most  complex  and 
anomalous  political  situation  to  be  found  in 
history — I  might  almost  say  in  fiction.  We  are 
living  under  a  system  of  Government  which  sur- 
vives only  because  the  Act  abolishing  it  cannot, 
consistently  with  Ministerial  pledges,  be  put  into 
operation  without  further  legislation  no  less 
difficult  and  controversial  than  that  which  it  has  to 
amend.  While  the  responsibility  for  a  solution  to 
our  problem  rests  primarily  with  the  Government, 
the  Convention  found  itself  in  full  accord  with 
your  insistence  that  the  most  hopeful  path  to  a 
settlement  was  to  be  found  in  Irish  agreement.  In 
seeking  this — in  attempting  to  find  a  compromise 
which  Ireland  might  accept  and  Parliament  pass 
into  law— it  has  been  recognised  that  the  full  p/o- 


142  THE   CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

gramme  of  no  party  could  be  adopted.  The  Con- 
vention was  also  bound  to  give  due  weight  to  your 
opinion  that  to  press  for  a  settlement  at  West- 
minster, during  the  war,  of  the  question  which, 
as  I  have  shown,  had  been  a  formidable  obstacle 
to  agreement  would  be  to  imperil  the  prospect  of 
the  early  establishment  of  self-government  in 
Ireland.  Notwithstanding  the  difficulties  with 
which  we  were  surrounded,  a  larger  measure  of 
agreement  has  been  reached  upon  the  principle  and 
details  of  Irish  self-government  than  has  ever  yet 
been  attained.  Is  it  too  much  to  hope  that  the 
scheme  embodying  this  agreement  will  forthwith 
be  brought  to  fruition  by  those  to  whose  call 
the  Irish  Convention  has  now  responded?  " 

Before  we  proceed  to  record  the  Government's 
action  upon  the  Report,  however,  it  will  be  desir- 
able, since  space  has  been  found  in  the  Appendix 
only  for  paragraph  42  of  the  Draft  Report  of  the 
proceedings,  to  give  here  a  resume  of  the  earlier 
pages.  Some  of  the  events  recorded  by  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett  have  already  been  noted  in  the  other  parts 
of  this  book.  In  paragraph  10  of  the  Narrative 
we  learn  that  the  Bishop  of  Raphoe  was  in  October 
delegated  to  present  the  Heads  of  a  Scheme  for 
the  consideration  of  a  sub-committee  (Mr.  Barrie, 
Mr.  Devlin,  Lord  Londonderry,  Sir  A.  McDowell, 
Lord  Midleton,  Mr.  W.  M.  Murphy,  the  Bishop  of 
Raphoe,  Mr.  Redmond  and  Mr.  Russell).  The 
Bishop's  scheme  turned  out,  in  effect,  to  be  a  pro- 
posal of  "  Dominion "  Home  Rule,  although  the 
Ulster  Unionists  in  their  Minority  Report  sub- 
sequently credited  the  Bishop  with  having  pro- 
posed co-equal  Parliaments  for  Ireland  and  Eng- 
land. The  Bishop  gave  the  Irish  Parliament 
power  to  maintain  a  Defence  Force,  power  in  re- 
spect of  commercial  treaties,  complete  authority 
over  Finance,  Police  and  Post  Office.  But  he  ex- 
cluded the  Army  and  Navy  from  Irish  interference, 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER  143 

he  agreed  to  an  Irish  contribution  to  the  Imperial 
Exchequer,  and  he  suggested  restriction  on  the 
powers  of  the  Irish  Parliament  in  respect  of  re- 
ligious legislation.  The  sub-committee  in  consider- 
ing the  Scheme  arrived  at  certain  provisional  con- 
clusions on  most  of  the  Heads  (though  not  on  the 
more  important  ones),  but  these  provisional  under- 
standings were  all  contingent  on  full  agreement 
on  the  general  scheme  being  reached.  Lord  South- 
borough  subsequently  submitted  new  proposals  on 
the  question  of  finance,  but  these  proposals  failed 
to  gain  the  unanimous  assent  of  the  Sub-Com- 
mittee. The  Chairman  then  intervened  and  sub- 
mitted certain  questions  to  the  Nationalists  and 
Ulster  representatives.  He  received  replies  which 
showed  that  there  could  be  no  basis  of  agreement, 
the  Ulstermen  declaring  their  opinion  that  for  Ire- 
land and  for  Great  Britain  a  common  system  of 
Finance,  with  one  Exchequer,  was  a  fundamental 
essential.^  The  Grand  Committee  again  took  up 
the  task  of  discussion.  Then  on  the  2nd  of  January 
Lord  Midleton,  before  the  whole  Convention,  intro- 
duced his  compromise,  which,  in  the  first  instance, 
took  the  form  of  the  following  Resolution  : — 

"  That,  in  the  event  of  the  establishment  of  an 
Irish  Parliament,  there  be  reserved  to  the  Parlia- 
ment of  the  United  Kingdom  full  authority  for 
Imperial  services,  including  the  levying  of  Custom 
Duties,  but  subject  to  the  above  limitation,  the 
Irish  Parliament  shall  control  all  purely  Irish 
services,  including  Judicature  and  Police,  with 
internal  taxation  and  administration. 

The  differences  between  Nationalists  on  the 
Midleton  compromise  led,  as  has  been  already 
stated,  to  the  Premier's  intervention  (letters  of 
February  and  21st  January*).    During  the  sessions 

♦  For  the  answers  of  the  Nationalists  and  Ulstermen  to  Sir  Horace 
Plunkett's  queries,  see  Appendix 

*  For  letter  of  25th  February,  see  Appendix. 


144  THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

of  February  26th,  27th  and  28th  the  Convention 
considered  the  views  of  the  Cabinet.  On  March 
5th  the  resolution  of  Lord  MacDonnell  on  the 
Fiscal  question  was  taken  up,  and  on  March  12th 
was  carried  by  a  majority  of  4,"^  whereupon  the 
Convention  resumed  the  consideration  of  the  state- 
ment of  provisional  conclusions  reached  in  the 
Grand  Committee.  Mr.  Barrie,  M.P.,  presently 
moved  his  amendment  excluding  all  Ulster  from 
the  power  of  the  Irish  Parliament.  It  was  defeated 
by  52  votes  to  19.  On  the  22nd  of  March  the  Con- 
vention adopted  unanimously  the  final  report  of 
the  Sub-Committee  on  Land  Purchase,  which  con- 
tained detailed  recommendations  for  a  complete 
settlement  of  the  agrarian  question,  under  a  scheme 
for  recasting  the  framework  of  the  government  of 
Ireland.  It  did  the  same  with  the  Report  of  the 
Committee  appointed  to  consider  the  Question  of 
Housing  in  Urban  Areas  in  Ireland.  Finally,  on 
the  5th  of  April,  1918,  the  Chairman  and  Secretary 
were,  by  42  votes  to  35,  empowered  to  submit  the 
Report  of  Proceedings  to  His  Majesty's  Govern- 
ment. There  voted  in  the  minority  of  35  the  18 
representatives  of  Ulster  Unionism,  one  of  the 
Labour  delegates  from  Belfast  and,  among  the 
Nationalists,  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  Cork,  Mr.  T.  Lundon,  M.P.,  Mr.  J. 
Devlin,  M.P.,  the  Bishop  of  Raphoe,  the  Bishop  of 
Down  and  Connor,  and  Mr.  W.  M.  Murphy. 

We  have  dealt  above  at  some  length,  in  its  pro- 
per place  in  the  historical  sequence  of  events,  with 
the  Convention's  Report.  The  issue  of  the  Report, 
however,  was  made  to  an  Irish  public  profoundly 
uninterested  in  it.  The  mind  of  the  whole  people 
was  fixed  on  conscription,  to  the  complete  exclusion 
of  any  other  question.  Nor  was  the  gathering 
storm  of  determined  opposition  to  the  proposal  to 

*  See  Appendix,  paragraph  42.  section  15  ;  and  division  list. 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER  145 

conscript  Ireland  in  any  way  checked  by  a  certain 
change  in  the  Government's  attitude  which  was 
disclosed  during  the  hurried  passage  of  the 
Military  Service  Bill  through  the  House  of  Com- 
mons under  the  "  guillotine/'  The  Irish  clause  of 
the  Bill — Clause  II. — gave  the  Government  power 
to  extend  the  operation  of  the  Act  to  Ireland  by 
Order  in  Council.  In  his  speech  on  the  first  read- 
ing of  the  Bill  on  April  9th  the  Prime  Minister 
announced  the  Government's  intention  to  use  this 
power  immediately  upon  the  completion  of  the 
necessary  preliminary  arrangements.  So  far  as  the 
question  of  Home  Rule — which  he  insisted  was  an 
entirely  separate  question — was  concerned,  he 
merely  offered  a  sort  of  ex  fost  facto  justification  of 
the  conscription  in  Ireland  in  the  remark  that 
"  when  the  young  men  of  Ireland  had  been  brought 
in  large  numbers  into  the  fighting  line,  it  is  im- 
portant that  they  should  feel  that  they  are  not 
fighting  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  prin- 
ciple abroad  which  is  denied  to  them  at  home." 

From  these  declarations  it  appeared  that  the 
enforcement  of  conscription  in  Ireland  was  an 
almost  immediate  certainty,  while  the  production, 
and  still  more,  the  passage  of  "  such  proposals  for 
the  establishment  of  self-government  for  Ireland 
as  in  themselves  are  just  and  can  be  carried  with- 
out violent  controversy  "  was  an  uncertain  possi- 
bility relegated  to  the  vague  future.  During  the 
passage  of  the  Bill,  however,  the  Government's 
attitude  underwent  an  important  change.  The 
Bill,  of  course,  was  opposed  at  every  stage  by  the 
Nationalist  members  to  the  utmost  limits  that  the 
operation  of  the  "  guillotine  "  permitted.  They 
were  joined  in  this  opposition,  up  to  a  point,  by 
Liberal  and  Labour  members,  as  well  as  by  some 
Unionists.  Mr.  Asquith,  as  leader  of  the  Opposi- 
tion, expressed  the  gravest  doubts  of  the  wisdom  of 
the  Government's  policy ;  but  in  face  of  Mr.  Bonar 


146  THE  CONVENTION  AND   SINN  FEIN 

Law's  declaration  that  the  Government  would 
stand  or  fall  by  the  Irish  clause,  the  Liberal  leader 
refused  to  take  the  responsibility  of  defeating  it. 
It  was  known,  however,  "that  the  Labour  Ministers 
were  putting  the  strongest  pressure  on  the  War 
Cabinet  to  modify  its  attitude. 

In  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Barnes  and  of  the  Prime 
Minister  on  the  third  reading  of  the  Bill  on  April 
16th  the  result  of  this  pressure  became  apparent. 
It  was  now  clear  that,  despite  Mr.  Lloyd  George's 
earlier  emphatic  assertions  to  the  contrary,  Home 
Rule  and  conscription  for  Ireland  were,  in  fact, 
inter-dependent.  These  speeches  showed  that  the 
Government  now  proposed  to  bring  in  a  Home  Rule 
Bill  immediately,  and  to  stand  or  fall  by  it  as  it 
had  decided  to  stand  or  fall  by  the  Irish  Clause  of 
the  Military  Service  Bill.  Mr.  Barnes  said  that  he 
believed  that  the  Home  Rule  Bill  might  be  put  on 
the  Statute  Book  before  this  clause  was  operative. 
The  Prime  Minister  explained  his  position  with 
some  clearness,  and  made  it  plain  in  his  speech  that 
what  concerned  him  most  was  not  the  Irish  attitude 
towards  the  conscription  of  Ireland,  but  the 
English  attitude.  "  If  there  is  to  be  trouble  in  Ire- 
kind,"  he  said,  "  in  resisting  a  measure  of  this 
kind  " — and  he  added  that  he  did  not  doubt  for  a 
moment  that  there  would  be  trouble — "  before  any 
measure  of  a  stern  character  is  taken  by  this 
country  it  is  essential  that  the  conscience  of  this 
country  should  be  perfectly  clear.  If  there  is  a  re- 
fusal to  legislate  after  that  remarkable  Conven- 
tion, if  the  only  answer  that  is  given  to  the  Con- 
vention is  conscription  and  nothing  else,  let  there 
be  no  mistake — if  there  is  resistance  in  Ireland 
under  those  conditions  there  will  be  an  amount  of 
sympathy  with  the  resistance  in  this  country 
which  would  paralyze  any  effort  to  enforce  it. 
•  .  .  you  can  face  the  difficulties  in  Ireland 
with    a   united    country    behind  you,    and   you 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER         147 

can  only  get  unity  when  every  section  of 
the  community  feels  that  full  justice  has  been 
done  to  Ireland  in  procuring  for  her  that 
measure  of  self-government  which  we  are  ostensibly 
fighting  for  for  other  countries/'  The  Prime 
Minister  went  on  to  say  that  nothing  would  help 
more  to  secure  the  full  measure  of  America's  assist- 
ance, which  was  vital  at  this  juncture,  than  the 
' '  determination  of  the  British  Parliament  to  ten- 
der to  Ireland  a  measure  of  self-government  which 
would  satisfy  reasonable  American  opinion."  In 
these  circumstances,  he  declared,  the  Government 
had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  Irish  self-govern- 
ment after  the  Convention  had  reported  was  an 
essential  war  measure.  The  conclusion  which  Sir 
Edward  Carson  drew  from  these  speeches  was 
that  "  it  was  now  clear  that  no  recruits  in  Ireland 
were  to  be  conscripted  until  a  Home  Rule  Bill  was 
passed  by  the  Government."  "  That,"  he  added, 
"  was  handing  over  Ulster  as  the  price  to  be  paid 
for  conscripting  them." 

After  the  passage  of  the  Military  Service  Bill 
on  April  16th — the  Irish  clause  being  carried  by 
296  votes  to  123 — the  Nationalist  Parliamentary 
Party  immediately  left  Westminster  and  returned 
to  Ireland.  A  passive  resistance  movement  was 
already  afoot.  On  April  13th  the  Rev.  Joseph  W. 
Brady,  Adminstrator  of  the  Cathedral  Parish  of 
Armagh,  published  in  the  Nationalist  Press  a 
letter  in  the  following  terms  :—"  Following  the 
eminent  example  set  us  a  few  years  ago  by  Sir 
Edward  Carson,  the  priests  and  people  of  the 
Cathedral  Parish  of  Armagh  will  hold  a  series  of 
meetings  on  next  Sunday  for  the  purpose  of  found- 
ing a  Solemn  League  and  Covenant  against  con- 
scription. The  methods  employed,  however,  will  not 
be  those  sanctioned  by  Sir  Edward  Carson,  viz.  :— 
arms,  drilling,  &c.  The  constitutional  weapon  of 
passive   resistance,   employed  so  successfully  by 


148  THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

thousands  of  conscientious  objectors  in  England, 
Scotland  and  Wales  for  years  recently,  will  be  quite 
sufficient,  and  we  have  the  highest  theological 
authority  for  its  use/'  At  the  meeting  on  the  follow- 
ing Sunday  a  message  was  read  from  Cardinal 
Logue,  who  wrote  : — "  I  am  heart  and  soul  with  the 
meeting  at  Armagh.  Forcible  conscription  is  an 
outrage  on  the  clergy  and  people  of  Ireland.  There 
is  nothing  for  it  but  passive  resistance  to  it  in  every 
shape  and  form."  Cardinal  Logue  added  that  he 
had  convened  a  meeting  of  the  Irish  Bishops  on 
April  18th. 

On  the  same  day  there  assembled  at  the  Dublin 
Mansion  House  the  conference  to  arrange  for 
united  opposition  to  conscription,  which  had 
earlier  been  proposed  in  a  resolution  by  the  Dublin 
Corporation.  The  Government's  proposal,  it  was 
now  clear,  had  achieved  the  miracle  of  Irish  unity. 
Invitations  to  the  conference,  over  which  the  Lord 
Mayor  of  Dublin  presided,  were  accepted  by  Mr. 
Dillon  and  Mr.  Devlin,  representing  the  National- 
ist Parliamentary  Party;  Mr.  de  Valera  and  Mr. 
Arthur  GriflSth,  representing  Sinn  Fein;  Mr. 
William  O'Brien  and  Mr.  T.  M.  Healy,  represent- 
ing the  AU-for-Ireland  League;  and  Messrs. 
William  O'Brien  (Dublin),  Thomas  Johnson  (Bel- 
fast), and  W.  J.  Egan  (Cork),  representing  the 
Irish  Trades'  Union  Congress.  During  this 
period,  though  feeling  ran  high  throughout  the 
country,  and  public  meetings  were  held  and  resolu- 
tions of  protest  passed  by  public  bodies  daily,  there 
was  no  disorder — except  in  Belfast,  where  a 
great  protest  meeting  was  violently  broken  up  by 
a  body  of  young  Orange  shipyard  workers,  who 
were,  of  course,  "  protected  "  by  their  occupation 
from  conscription.  The  Mansion  House  conference 
at  once  undertook  the  task  of  organising  the  move- 
ment of  opposition  on  lines  of  passive  resistance  in 
close  co-operation  with  the  Roman  Catholic  Hier- 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER  149 

archy.  At  its  first  meeting,  the  entrance  of  mem- 
bers into  which  was  witnessed  by  an  enormous  and 
enthusiastic  crowd,  the  Conference  appointed  a 
deputation,  consisting  of  Messrs.  de  Valera, 
Dillon,  Healy  and  O'Brien  (Trades  Union  Con- 
gress) to  wait  upon  the  Hierarchy  in  session  at 
Maynooth. 

After  the  return  of  this  deputation,  and  its  re- 
port on  the  result  of  the  interview  with  the  Hier- 
archy, the  Conference  adopted  and  issued  the 
following  declaration  : — "  Taking  our  stand  on 
Ireland's  separate  and  distinct  nationhood,  and 
affirming  the  principle  of  liberty,  that  the  Govern- 
ments of  nations  derive  their  just  powers  from 
the  consent  of  the  governed,  we  deny  the  right  of 
the  British  Government  or  any  external  authority 
to  impose  compulsory  military  service  in  Ireland 
against  the  clearly  expressed  will  of  the  Irish 
people.  The  passing  of  the  Conscription  Bill  by 
the  British  House  of  Commons  must  be  regarded 
as  a  declaration  of  war  on  the  Irish  nation.  The 
alternative  to  accepting  it  as  such  is  to  surrender 
our  liberties  and  to  acknowledge  ourselves  slaves. 
It  is  in  direct  violation  of  the  rights  of  small 
nationalities  to  self-determination,  which  even  the 
Prime  Minister  of  England — now  preparing  to 
employ  naked  militarism  and  force  his  Act  upon 
Ireland — himself  officially  announced  as  an 
essential  condition  for  peace  at  the  Peace  Con- 
gress. The  attempt  to  enforce  it  will  be  an  un- 
warrantable aggression,  which  we  call  upon  all 
Irishmen  to  resist  by  the  most  effective  means  at 
their  disposal."  After  drafting  this  declaration 
the  Conference  proceeded  to  discuss  the  methods 
to  be  employed  for  giving  effect  to  it.  It  was 
announced  that  detailed  instructions  as  to  the  most 
effective  plans  to  be  pursued  would  be  communi- 
cated in  due  course,  and  that  all  the  decisions  so 
far  reached  Had  been  unanimous, 


150  THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

Simultaneously  with  the  issue  of  this  declara- 
tion of  the  Mansion  House  Conference  the  Roman 
Catholic  Hierarchy  published  an  important  state- 
ment in  the  following  terms  : — "  An  attempt  is 
being    made    to    force    conscription    on    Ireland 
against  the  will  of  the  Irish  nation  and  in  defiance 
of  the  protests  of  its  leaders.    In  view  especially 
of  the  historic  relations  between  the  two  countries 
from  the  very  beginning  up  to  this  moment,  we  con- 
sider that  conscription  forced  in  this  way  upon 
Ireland  is  an  oppressive  and  inhuman  law,  which 
the  Irish  people  have  a  right  to  resist  by  every 
means  that  are  consonant  with  the  law  of  God.  We 
wish  to  remind  our  people  that  there  is  a  higher 
Power  which  controls  the  affairs  of  men.     They 
have  in  their  hands  the  means  of  conciliating  that 
Power  by  strict  adherence  to  the  Divine  law,  by 
more  earnest  attention  to  their  religious  duties, 
and  by  fervent  and  persevering  prayer.    In  order 
to  secure  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Mother  of  God,  who 
shielded  our  people  in  the  days  of  their  greatest 
trials,    we   have   already  sanctioned    a  National 
Novena  in  Honour  of  our  Lady  of  Lourdes,  com- 
mencing on  the  3rd  May,  to  secure  general  and 
domestic  peace.     We   also   exhort  the  heads   of 
families  to  have  the  Rosary  recited  every  evening 
with  the  intention  of  protecting  the  spiritual  and 
temporal  welfare  of  our  beloved  country,  and  bring- 
ing us  safe  through  this  crisis  of  unparalleled 
gravity.'' 

The  Hierarchy  directed  the  clergy  to  celebrate 
a  public  Mass  of  intercession  on  the  following  Sun- 
day *'  to  avert  the  scourge  of  conscription  with 
which  Ireland  is  now  threatened."  They  further 
directed  that  an  announcement  be  made  at  every 
public  Mass  of  a  public  meeting  to  be  held  on  that 
day  at  an  hour  and  place  to  be  specified  in  the 
announcement  for  the  purpose  of  administering 
the  following  pledge  against  compulsory  conscrip- 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER  151 

tion  in  Ireland : — "  Denying  the  right  of  the 
British  Government  to  enforce  compulsory  service 
in  this  country,  we  pledge  ourselves  solemnly  to 
one  another  to  resist  conscription  by  the  most 
effective  means  at  our  disposal."  The  clergy  were 
also  directed  by  the  Bishops  to  announce  that  a 
collection  would  be  held  at  an  early  suitable  date 
outside  the  church  gates  for  the  purpose  of  supply- 
ing means  to  resist  the  imposition  of  compulsory 
military  service. 

On  the  following  Sunday — April  21st — the 
pledge  to  resist  conscription  was  solemnly  ad- 
ministered at  public  meetings  after  Mass  in  every 
parish  throughout  Ireland.  Centres  were  then 
opened  for  the  registering  of  names.  A  few  days 
later  a  Protestant  protest  against  conscription  was 
also  circulated  through  the  country.  This  protest 
was  organised  unofficially.  The  Protestant  Arch- 
bishops contented  themselves  with  issuing  an 
appeal  for  recruits,  significantly  refusing  to  ex- 
press an  opinion  on  the  application  of  conscription 
to  Ireland.  In  the  meantime  three  important 
events  had  occurred.  In  the  first  place  the  Mansion 
House  Conference,  at  its  second  meeting  on  April 
17th,  decided  that  a  detailed  statement  of  Ireland's 
case  with  respect  to  the  attempt  of  the  English 
Government  to  impose  conscription  upon  the  Irish 
people  be  prepared  for  presentation  to  the  world, 
and  the  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin  was  deputed  to 
arrange  to  proceed  to  Washington  and  present  in 
person  a  statement  to  the  President  of  the  United 
States.  At  the  meeting  it  was  also  decided  that 
the  money  collected  in  each  parish  for  the  Irish 
National  Defence  Fund  should  remain  in  the  hands 
of  the  priests  or  other  persons  locally  selected  to 
act  as  treasurers ;  that  Archbishop  Walsh  and  the 
Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin,  and  a  third  to  be  named 
subsequently  by  them  should  act  as  Trustees,  and 
that  representative  Local  Committees  of  Defence 


152  THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

selected  by  and  from  those  who  signed  the  National 
Pledge  against  conscription  should  be  formed 
immediately  in  every  parish.  The  Conference 
further  advised  the  public  to  refuse  to  assist  in  any 
proceedings  to  facilitate  the  enforcement  of  the 
Act,  and  added  the  comment  that  "  the  question 
of  the  local  conservation  of  food  supplies  v^as  under 
consideration  in  view  of  possible  developments." 

In  the  next  place,  on  April  21st,  the  Nationalist 
Parliamentary  Party  held  a  meeting  in  Dublin  at 
which  it  passed  a  series  of  resolutions  which,  after 
denouncing  the  Government's  proposal,  pledged 
the  party  to  use  all  its  influence  and  power  to 
defeat  any  attempt  to  enforce  conscription,  and  to 
carry  out  the  decisions  of  the  Mansion  House  Con- 
ference, and  set  on  record  the  party's  opinion  that 
"  in  the  present  crisis,  the  highest  and  most  im- 
mediate duty  of  the  members  of  this  party  is  to 
remain  in  Ireland  and  actively  co-operate  with 
their  constituents  in  opposing  the  enforcement  of 
compulsorily  military  service  in  Ireland."  Finally, 
on  the  same  day  an  All-Ireland  Conference,  con- 
sisting of  some  fifteen  hundred  delegates,  was  held 
in  Dublin  under  the  auspices  of  the  Irish  Trades 
Union  Congress  "  to  consider  and  advise  on  the 
best  course  to  adopt  to  safeguard  the  position  of 
Labour  in  view  of  the  introduction  of  conscrip- 
tion." Mr.  William  O'Brien  presided  at  this  Con- 
ference, and  in  the  course  of  his  speech  declared 
that  "  they  were  opposed  to  conscription  as  Irish 
labour  men  because  it  was  sought  to  be  forced  on 
them  by  a  foreign  people,  and  they  would  be  equally 
opposed  to  it  if  it  were  tried  to  be  forced  by  an 
Irish  Parliament." 

The  Conference  unanimously  adopted  the  follow- 
ing resolution: — "That  this  convention  of  the 
Irish  Labour  movement  representing  all  sections 
and  provinces  of  Ireland  pledge  ourselves  and 
those    whom    we    represent    that    we    will    not 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER  153 

have  conscription;  that  we  shall  resist  it  in 
every  v^ay  that  to  us  seems  feasible;  that  we 
claim  the  right  of  liberty  to  decide  as  units 
for  ourselves  and  as  a  nation  for  itself;  that  we 
place  before  our  brothers  in  the  Labour  movement 
all  the  world  over  our  claims  for  independent 
status  as  a  nation  in  the  international  movement, 
and  the  right  of  self-determination  as  a  nation  as 
to  what  action  or  actions  our  people  should  take 
on  questions  of  political  or  economic  issues.  That 
in  view  of  the  great  claims  on  the  resources  of  the 
National  Executive  of  the  Irish  Trades  Union 
Congress  and  Labour  Party  we  hereby  call  upon 
the  bodies  represented  here  to  forward  subscrip- 
tions for  the  purpose  of  enabling  them  to  carry  out 
their  campaign  against  conscription,  and  pledge 
ourselves  to  make  it  a  success.  That  this  Conven- 
tion calls  upon  the  workers  of  Ireland  to  abstain 
from  work  on  Tuesday  next,  April  23rd  (1st)  as  a 
demonstration  of  fealty  to  the  cause  of  Labour  and 
Ireland ;  (2nd)  as  a  sign  of  their  resolve  to  resist 
the  application  of  the  Conscription  Act;  and  (3rd) 
for  the  purpose  of  enabling  every  man  and  woman 
to  sign  the  pledge  of  resistance  against  conscrip- 
tion. Believing  that  our  success  in  resisting  the 
imposition  of  conscription  will  be  a  signal  to  the 
workers  of  all  countries,  we  call  upon  all  lovers  of 
liberty  everywhere  to  give  assistance  in  this  im- 
pending struggle." 

In  accordance  with  this  resolution,  April  23rd 
— the  anniversary  of  the  eve  of  the  Rebellion  two 
years  before^ — witnessed  a  general  strike  through- 
out the  whole  of  Ireland  with  the  exception  of 
North-East  Ulster  and  the  Great  Northern  Rail- 
way line  between  Belfast  and  Dublin.  This  one- 
day  strike^ — the  first  general  strike  in  any  country 
in  Western  Europe — was  completely  successful  in 
paralysing  the  whole  of  the  normal  life  of  Ireland. 
It  was  marked  by  no  "  incident,"  but  its  very  re- 


154    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

straint  was  an  additional  demonstration  of  the 
strength,  solidarity,  and  determination  of  organ- 
ised Labour  in  Ireland.  After  this  demonstration 
the  work  of  perfecting  the  resistance  movement 
was  carried  on  throughout  the  country  under  the 
general  direction  of  the  Mansion  House  Confer- 
ence, which  met  from  time  to  time.  The  East 
Cavan  seat,  held  by  the  Parliamentary  Party,  fell 
vacant,  and  efforts  were  made  to  avoid  a  contest, 
on  the  ground  that  a  contested  election  would  im- 
pair the  national  unity ^  Sinn  Fein,  however,  re- 
fused to  agree  to  a  compromise,  and  put  forward 
as  its  candidate  Mr.  Arthur  Griffith. 

On  May  5th  Mr.  Dillon  and  Mr.  de  Valera 
appeared  on  a  common  platform  at  a  monster  anti- 
conscription  meeting  at  Ballaghadereen,  the 
chief  town  of  Mr.  Dillon's  constituency,  and  at  this 
meeting  Mr.  de  Valera  justified  the  Sinn  Fein 
attitude  in  East  Cavan  in  these  terms  : — "  We 
tave  the  right  unity,  the  unity  of  co-operation. 
The  unity  of  amalgamation  would  be  no  unity,  and 
that  we  cannot  have."  A  few  days  earlier,  in  a 
speech  in  East  Cavan,  Mr.  Dillon  had  defended 
the  Parliamentary  Party  against  the  Sinn  Fein 
policy/  of  abstention.  He  said  that  there  were 
three  great  lines  of  defence  standing  between  the 
Irish  people  and  the  brutal  military  application 
of  the  Conscription  Act.  "  First,  and  by  no  means 
least,  the  Parliamentary  situation  created  by  the 
fight  of  the  Irish  Party  in  the  House  of  Commons 
— a  fight  which  had  already  borne  fruit  in  the 
following  results:  first,  all  the  Radical  Press  in 
England,  without  exception,  has  declared  against 
the  Government's  policy,  and  even  the  Northcliffe 
Press  is  wavering.  Secondly,  that  had  it  not  been 
from  extreme  pressure  of  the  Government  Whips, 
and  the  threat  of  the  Government  to  resign,  the 
House  of  Commons  would  undoubtedly  have  de- 

*  The  Party  had  earlier  decided  not  to  enter  the  Tullamroe  division  of 
King's  County  against  Sinn  Fein, 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER  155 

feated  the  proposal.  Thirdly,  that  we  have 
secured  by  that  debate  the  opposition  of  organised 
Labour  to  the  conscription  proposal,  and  without 
the  support  of  organised  Labour  the  present 
Government  cannot  continue  in  existence.  The 
second  line  of  defence  is  the  national  union  which 
was  achieved  by  the  Mansion  House  Conference, 
and  which,  in  my  judgment,  it  would  be  criminal 
to  break  up.  The  third  line  is  the  whole-hearted 
support  of  our  Prelates,  given  with  a  courage  and 
a  generosity  which  will  earn  the  undying  grati- 
tude of  the  Irish  people,  which  has  exposed  them 
already  to  a  whirlwind  of  abuse  and  vituperation, 
and  has  made  the  resistance  of  the  Irish  people 
absolutely  impregnable." 

It  quickly  became  apparent  that  the  organisa- 
tion of  resistance  to  conscription  in  Ireland  was 
to  be  used  by  the  opponents  of  Home  Rule  to  kill 
the  Government's  promised  Bill,  which  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  drafting  committee  presided  over  by 
Mr-  Walter  Long.  The  Times,  while  urging  the 
Government  to  persevere  with  both  parts  of  its 
Irish  policy,  opened  a  "  No  Popery  "  campaign. 
Sir  Edward  Carson,  after  notifying  the  Secretary 
of  the  Ulster  Unionist  Council  that  "  it  will  be 
necessary  to  reorganise  all  the  machinery  through- 
out the  province  which  has  been  in  abeyance  since 
the  war  broke  out,"  in  a  series  of  letters  to  the 
Press  vehemently  denounced  the  proposal  to 
establish  Home  Rule.  "  It  is  evident,"  he  said 
in  one  of  these  letters,  "  that  the  situation  is  so 
changed  (by  the  Irish  opposition  to  conscription) 
that  the  vast  body  of  Irish  Southern  Unionists  no 
longer  support  the  action  of  Lord  Midleton  and 
the  Southern  Unionist  delegates  at  the  Conven- 
tion." A  general  meeting  of  the  Irish  Unionist 
Alliance  had,  in  fact,  been  invited  to  express  its 
emphatic  disapproval  of  those  delegates'  action, 
but  finally  broke  up  after   a  heated'  discussion 


156    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

without  reaching  any  decision.  At  the  close  of  a 
letter  publishea  on  May  8th  Sir  Edward  Carson 
appealed  to  Unionist  members  of  the  Government 
and  to  the  Unionist  Party  "  to  compel  a  recon- 
sideration of  this  matter  before  we  have  a 
fratricidal  conflict  at  a  time  when  our  whole 
energies  should  be  devoted  to  the  prosecution  of 
the  war."  With  this  strong  pressure  being  put 
on  the  Unionist  members  of  the  Government  the 
drafting  of  the  Home  Rule  Bill  made  the  slowest 
progress.  "  Federalism  "  re-appeared  as  the  solu- 
tion, and  it  was  evident  that  the  labours  of  the 
Irish  Convention  were  in  process  of  being  com- 
mitted to  the  waste-paper  basket.  On  May  6th 
it  was  announced  that  Viscount  French  had  been 
appointed  Lord  Lieutenant  in  succession  to  Lord 
Wimborne.  This  appointment  revived  in  the 
Nationalist  Press  memories  of  '98  and  Cornwallis, 
and  was  interpreted  as  the  prelude  to  military 
governorship  for  the  enforcement  of  conscription. 
Coupled  with  this  appointment,  however,  was 
that  as  Chief  Secretary  of  Mr.  Edward  Shortt, 
the  Radical  member  for  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  who 
had  voted  against  the  Irish  Clause  of  the  Military 
Service  Act.  A  few  days  later  the  resignation 
was  announced  of  Sir  Bryan  Mahon,  Commander- 
in-Chief  of  the  Forces  in  Ireland. 

On  the  same  day  on  which  the  appointment  of 
Lord  French  and  Mr.  Shortt  was  announced  Sir 
Horace  Plunkett  addressed  a  final  appeal  to  the 
Government  in  a  letter  to  the  Press.  The  late 
Chairman  of  the  Convention  wrote : — "At  the 
gravest  crisis  with  which  the  British  Empire  has 
ever  been  faced  the  Government  have  staked  their 
existence  upon  a  two-fold  Irish  policy,  conscrip- 
tion and  Home  Rule-  They  cannot  achieve  both. 
At  the  cost  of  much  present  bloodshed  and  last- 
ing hate  they  might  achieve  the  first,  thereby 
making  the  second  impossible.    In  my  opinion,  for 


THE  REPORT  AND  AFTER         157 

what  it  is  worth,  they  would  fail  in  the  attempt, 
and  have  to  go  leaving  both  undone.  Their  suc- 
cessors wuld  then  have  to  hnd  a  way  out  of  the 
worst  Irish  situation  in  my  memory,  which  goes 
back  to  the  Fenian  days  of  fifty  years  ago,  and 
has  had  burned  into  it  every  agrarian  and  political 
agitation  since. 

"  I  would  not  write  this  did  I  not  believe  that 
even  now,  at  the  eleventh  hour,  it  is  not  beyond 
the  resouices  of  statesmanship  to  achieve  the 
double  purpose  the  vast  majority  of  both  peoples 
have  in  view.  I  believe  the  Government  could  not 
only  satisfy  the  reasonable  aspirations  of  the 
Irish  people  at  home,  but  also  get  them  to  follow 
voluntarily  the  immemorial  instincts  of  a  chival- 
rous race  and  the  example  of  their  kinsmen  and 
sympathisers  thioughout  the  United  States  and 
the  British  Dominions.  There  is  one,  and  only 
one,  alternative  to  the  disastrous  policy  upon 
which  the  Cabinet  has  embarked,  and  that  is  to 
set  up  at  once  responsible  government  in  Ireland. 
The  report  of  the  Convention  has  shown  that  they 
could  do  this  with  the  support  of  a  large  body  of 
Irish  Nationalist  and  Unionist  opinion.  They 
should  pass  through  Parliament  without  delay 
the  necessary  legislation  as  a  war  measure. 

"  The  present  chaos,  with  its  growing  bitter- 
ness, its  utter  demoralisation  of  our  public  life, 
and  its  discredit  to  British  statesmanship,  need 
not  be  continued  while  we  are  waiting  for  a 
Parliament.  The  moment  the  Bill  is  passed  an 
Irish  Executive,  broadly  represented  and  com- 
posed of  responsible  men  who  would  not  shirk  the 
burden  of  their  brief  authority,  should  be 
appointed  and  given  the  task  of  setting  up  the 
Parliament  as  quickly  as  possible,  of  promoting 
voluntary  recruiting,  and  generally  carrying  on. 
The  Irish  people,  given  their  own  instrument  of 
government,  would  quickly  show  the  world  what 


158    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

is  their  real  attitude  to  this  war.  It  may  then 
dawn  upon  Englishmen  that  we  have  in  Ireland 
no  pro-Germans  excjept  those  they  have  made,  not 
of  malice  frefense  but  through  incapacity  to 
understand  us/'^ 

We  began  this  book  with  Sir  Horace  Plunkett's 
definition  of  the  Irish  situation  as  it  existed  after 
the  Rebellion  of  1916.  We  close  it  with  his  de- 
finition of  that  situation  as  it  existed  two  years 
later.  We  ended  our  "History  of  the  Rebellion" 
with  a  question  mark.  We  are  fated  to  end  this 
book,  it  seems,  in  the  same  manner.  If  it  be 
objected  that  a  record  of  Irish  politics  should  be 
brought  to  a  close  at  such  a  point,  it  may  be  re- 
plied that,  from  the  historian's  point  of  view,  the 
introduction  of  the  Government's  proposal  of 
Irish  conscription,  coinciding  with  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  Irish  Convention's  Report,  ends  finally 
and  very  definitely  a  chapter  in  the  history  of 
Irelana. 


APPENDICES 


CLAUSE  42.— FROM  REPORT  OF  THE  PROCEEDINGS 
OF  THE  IRISH  CONVENTION. 


42.  We  have  now  set  out  in  order  the  proceedmgs  of  the 
Convention  throughout  the  eight  months  of  its  deliberations. 
The  answer  to  our  Reference,  is  to  be  found  in  the  following 
statement.  This  statement  embodies  the  conclusions  arrived 
at  by  majorities,  full  particulars  of  which  will  be  found  in 
Appendices  X.  to  XIII. 

Statement  of  Conclusions.* 
1.  The  Irish  Parliament. 

(1)  The  Irish  Parliament  to  consist  of  the  King,  an  Irish 

Senate,  and  an  Irish  House  of  Commons. 

(2)  Notwithstanding    the    establishment    of    the    Irish 

Parliament  or  anything  contained  in  the  Govern- 
ment of  Ireland  Act,  the  supreme  power  and 
authority  of  the  Parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom 
shall  remain  unaffected  and  undiminished  over  all 
persons,  matters,  and  things  in  Ireland  and  every 
part  thereof. 
Section  carried  by  51  votes  to  18. 

2.  Powers  of  the  Irish  Parliament.  The  Irish  Parlia- 
ment to  have  the  general  power  to  make  laws  for  the  peace, 
order,  and  good  government  of  Ireland,  subject  to  the  ex- 
clusions and  restrictions  specified  in  3  and  4  below. 

Section  carried  by  51  votes  to  19. 

3.  Exclusions  from  Power  of  Irish  Parliament.  The 
Irish  Parliament  to  have  no  power  to  make  laws  on  the 
following  matters  : — 

(1)  Crown  and  succession.    (See  1914  Act,  sect.  2  (1) ). 

♦  The  Statement  shows  the  votes  for  and  against  each  iection  and 
sub*section  (where  a  division  was  taken). 


160   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

(2)  Making   of   peace    and   war    (including   conduct   as 

neutrals).     (Act,  sect.  2  (2)  ). 

(3)  The  Army  and  Navy. 

(4)  Treaties  and  foreign  relations  (including  extradition). 

(Act,  sect.  2  (4)  ). 

(5)  Dignities  and  titles  of  honour.     (Act,  sect.  2  (5) ). 

(6)  Any  necessary   control   of   harbours  for  naval   and 

military  purposes,  and  certain  powers  as  regards 
lighthouses,  buoys,  beacons,  cables,  wireless  ter- 
minals, to  be  settled  with  reference  to  the  require- 
ments of  the  Military  and  Naval  forces  of  His 
Majesty  in  various  contingencies.     (Act,  sect.  2  (9)  ). 

Sub-section  carried  by  4:1  votes  to  IS. 

(7)  Coinage  ;  legal  tender  ;  or  any  change  in  the  standard 

of  weights  and  measures.     (Act,  sect.  2  (10)  ). 

(8)  Copyright  or  patent  rights. 

Section  carried  by  49  votes  io  16. 

Temporary  and  Partial  Reservation.  The  Imperial 
and  Irish  Governments  shall  jointly  arrange,  subject  to 
Imperial  exigencies,  for  the  unified  control  of  the  Irish  Police 
and  Postal  services  during  the  war,  provided  that  as  soon  as 
possible  after  the  cessation  of  hostilities  the  administration  of 
these  two  services  shall  become  automatically  subject  to  the 
Irish  Parliament. 

Carried  by  37  votes  to  21. 

4.  Restriction    on    Power   of   Irish    Parliament   on 
Matters  within  its  competence. 

(1)  Prohibition  of  laws  interfering  with  religious  equality. 

(Act,  sect.  3). 

N.B. — A  sub-section  should  be  framed  to  annul 
any  existing  legal  penalty,  disadvantage  or  disability 
on  account  of  religious  belief.  Certain  restrictions 
still  remain  under  the  Act  of  1829. 

(2)  Special   provision   protecting   the   position  of   Free- 

masons.    (Act,  sect.  43  (1)  and  (2)  ). 

(3)  Safeguard  for  Trinity  College,  and  Queen's  University 

similar  to  sect.  42  of  Act. 

(4)  Money  bills  to  be  founded  only  on  Viceregal  message. 

(Act,  sect.  10  (2) ). 

(5)  Privileges,  qualifications,  etc.,  of  members  of  Irish 

Parliament  to  be  limited  as  in  Act.     (Act,  sect.  12). 

(6)  Rights  of  existing  Irish  Officers  to  be  safeguarded. 

(Act,  sects.  32-7). 

Section  carried  by  46  votes  to  15. 


APPENDICES  161 

5.  Constitutional  Amendments.  Section  9  (4)  of  the  Act 
of  1914  to  apply  to  the  House  of  Commons  with  the  sub- 
stitution of  "  ten  years  "  for  "  three  years."  The  constitution 
of  the  Senate  to  be  subject  to  alteration  after  ten  years,  pro- 
vided the  Bill  is  agreed  to  by  two -thirds  of  the  total  number 
of  members  of  both  Houses  sitting  together. 

Section  carried  by  46  votes  to  15. 

6.  Executive  Authority.  The  executive  power  in  Ireland 
to  continue  vested  in  the  King,  but  exercisable  through  the 
Lord  Lieutenant  on  the  advice  of  an  Irish  Executive  Com- 
mittee in  the  manner  set  out  in  Act.     (Sect.  4). " 

Section  carried  by  45  votes  to  15. 

7.  Dissolution  of  Irish  Parliament.  The  Irish  Parlia- 
ment to  be  summoned,  prorogued,  and  dissolved  as  set  out  in 
Act.     (Sect.  6). 

Section  carried  by  45  votes  to  15. 

8.  Assent  to  Bills.  Royal  Assent  to  be  given  or  withheld 
as  set  out  in  Act  (sect.  7)  with  the  substitution  of  "  reservation  " 
for  "  postponement." 

Section  carried  by  45  votes  to  15. 

9.  Constitution  of  the  Senate. 

(1)  Lord  Chancellor       ...  ...  ...  ...       1 

(2)  Four   Archbishops   or   Bishops   of   the   Roman 

Catholic  Church  I  ...  ...  ...  ...      4 

(3)  Two  Archbishops  or  Bishops  of  the  Church  of 

Ireland   ...             ...             ...             ...             ...  2 

(4)  A  Representative  of  the  General  I  Assembly       ...  1 

(5)  The  Lord  Mayors  of  Dublin,  Belfast,  and  Cork  ...  3 

(6)  Peers    resident    in    Ireland,    elected    by    Peers 

resident  in  Ireland  ...  ...  ...     15 

(7)  Nominated  by  Lord  Lieutenant : — 

Irish  Privy  Councillors  of  at  least  two  years' 

standing            ...            ...            ...            ...  4 

Representatives  of  learned  institutions           ...  3 

Other  persons       ...             ...             ...             ...  4 

(8)  Representatives  of  Commerce  and  Industry      ...  15 

(9)  Representatives  of  Labour,  one  for  each  Province  4 
(10)  Representatives  of  County  Councils  two  for  each 

Province  ...  ...  ...  ...      8 


64 

On  the7disappearance  of^^any  nominated  element  in  the 
House  of  Commons  an  addition  shall  be  made  to  the  numbers 
of  the  Senate. 

Section  carried  by  48  votes  to  19. 

L 


162   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

10.  Constitution  of  the  House  of  Commons. 

(1)  The   ordinary   elected   members   of   the   House   of 

Commons  shall  number  160. 

(2)  The  University  of  Dublin,  the  University  of  Belfast, 

and  the  National  University  shall  each  return  two 
members.  The  graduates  of  each  University  shall 
form  the  constituency. 

(3)  Special  representation  shall  be  given  to  urban  and 

industrial  areas  by  grouping  the  smaller  towns  and 
applying  to  them  a  lower  electoral  quota  than  that 
applicable  to  the  rest  of  the  country. 

(4)  The  principle  of  Proportional  Representation,  with 

the  single  transferable  vote,  shall  be  observed 
wherever  a  constituency  returns  three  or  more 
members.     (Act,  sect.  9  (2) ). 

Sub-section  carried  by  47  votes  to  22. 

(5)  The  Convention  accept  the  principle  that   forty  per 

cent,  of  the  membership  of  the  House  of  Commons 
shall  be  guaranteed  to  Unionists.  In  pursuance  of 
this,  they  suggest  thajfc,  for  a  period,  there  shall  be 
summoned  to  the  Irish  House  of  Commons  20 
members  nominated  by  the  Lord  Lieutenant,  with 
a  view  to  the  due  representation  of  interests  not 
otherwise  adequately  represented  in  the  provinces 
of  Leinster,  Munster,  and  Connaught,  and  that  20 
additional  members  shall  be  elected  by  Ulster 
constituencies,  to  represent  commercial,  industrial 
and  agricultural  interests. 

(6)  The  Lord  Lieutenant's  power  of  nomination  shall  be 

exercised  subject  to  any  instructions  that  may  be 
given  by  His  Majesty  the  King. 

(7)  The  nominated  members  shall  disappear  in  whole  or 

in  part  after  15  years,  and  not  earlier,  notwith- 
standing anything  contained  in  Clause  5. 

(8)  The  extra  representation  in  Ulster  not  to  cease  except 

on  an  adverse  decision  by  a  three-fourths  majority 
of  both  Houses  sitting  together. 

Sub-section  carried  by  27  votes  to  20. 

(9)  The  House  of  Commons  shall  continue  for  5  years 

unless  previously  dissolved. 
(10)  Nominated  members  shall  vacate  their  seats  on  a 
dissolution  but  shall  be  eligible  for  renomination. 
Any  vacancy  among  the  nominated  members  shall 
be  filled  by  nomination. 

Section  carried  by  45  votes  to  20. 


APPENDICES  163 

11.  Money  Bills. 

(1)  Money    bills    to    originate    only    in    the    House    of 

Commons,  and  not  to  be  amended  by  the  Senate. 
(Act,  sect.  10). 

(2)  The  Senate  is,  however,  to  have  power  to  bring  about 

a  joint  sitting  over  money  bills  in  the  same  session 
of  Parliament. 

(3)  The  Senate  to  have  power  to  suggest  amendments, 

which  the  House  of  Commons  may  accept  or  reject 
as  [it  pleases. 
Section  carried  by  45  votes  to  22. 

12.  Disagreement  between  Houses.  Disagreements 
between  the  two  Houses  to  be  solved  by  joint  sittings  as  set 
out  in  Act  (sect.  11),  with  the  proviso  that  if  the  Senate  fail 
to  pass  a  money  bill  such  joint  sitting  shall  be  held  in  the  same 
session][£>f  Parliament. 

Section  carried  by  45  votes  to  22. 

13.  Representation  at  Westminster. 

(1)  Representation  in  Parliament  of  the  United  Kigndom 
'  to  continue.     Irish  representatives  to  have  the  right 

of  deliberating  and  voting  on  all  matters. 

(2)  Forty-two  Irish  representatives  shall  be  elected  to 

the  Commons  House  of  the  Parliament  of  the  United 
Kingdom  [in  the  following  manner  : — 

A  Panel  shall  be  formed  in  each  of  the  four 

Provinces  of  Ireland,  consisting  of  the  members  for 

|that  Province  in  the  Irish  House  of  Commons,  and 

I  one   other   Panel    shall    be   formed   consisting   of 

I  members  nominated  to  the  Irish  House  of  Commons. 

The  number  of  representatives  to  be  elected  to  the 

Commons  House  of  the  Imperial  Parliament  shall 

be  on  the  principle  of  Proportional  Representation. 

Sub-section  carried  by  42  votes  to  24. 

(3)  The  Irish  representation  in  the  House  of  Lords  shall 

continue  as  at  present  unless  and  until  that  Chamber 
be  remodelled,  when  the  matter  shall  be  recon- 
sidered by  the  Imperial  and  Irish  Parliaments. 
Section  carried  by  44  votes  to  22. 

14.  Finance. 

1^  An  Irish  Exchequer  and  Consolidated  Fund  to  be 
established  and  an  Irish  Controller  and  Auditor- 
General*  tolbe  appointed  as  set  out  in  Act  (sect. 
14  (1)  and  sect.  21). 


164   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

(2)  If  necessary,  it  should  be  declared  that  all  taxes  at 

present  leviable  in  Ireland  should  continue  to  be 
levied  and  collected  until  the  Irish  Parliament 
otherwise  decides. 

(3)  The  necessary  adjustments  of  revenue  as  between 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland  during  the  transition 
period 'Should  be  made. 
Section  carried  by  51  votes  to  18. 

15.  Financial  Powers  of  the  Irish  Parliament. 

(1)  The   control   of   Customs   and   Excise   by   an   Irish 

Parliament  is  to  be  postponed  for  further  con- 
sideration until  after  the  war,  provided  that  the 
question  of  such  control  shall  be  considered  and 
decided  by  the  Parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom 
within  seven  years  after  the  conclusion  of  peace. 
For  the  purpose  of  deciding  in  the  Parliament  of  the 
United  Kingdom  the  question  of  the  future  control 
of  Irish  Customs  and  Excise,  a  number  of  Irish 
representatives  proportioned  to  the  population  of 
Ireland  shall  be  called  to  the  Parliament  of  the 
United  Kingdom. 
Sub-section  carried  by  38  votes  to  34. 

(2)  On  the  creation  of  an  Irish  Parliament,  and  until  the 

question  of  the  ultimate  control  of  the  Irish  Customs 
and  Excise  services  shall  have  been  decided,  the 
Board  of  Customs  and  Excise  of  the  United  Kingdom 
shall  include  a  person  or  persons  nominated  by  the 
Irish  Treasury. 
Sub-section  carried  by  39  votes  to  33. 

(3)  A  Joint  Exchequer  Board,  consisting  of  two  members 

nominated  by  the  Imperial  Treasury,  and  two 
members  nominated  by  the  Irish  Treasury,  with  a 
Chairman  appointed  by  the  King,  shall  be  set  up 
to  secure  the  determination  of  the  true  income  of 
Ireland. 
Sub-section  carried  by  39  votes  to  33. 

(4)  Until  the  question  of  the  ultimate  control  of  the  Irish 

Customs    and    Excise    services    shall    have    been 
decided,  the  revenue  due  to  Ireland  from  Customs 
and  Excise,  as  determined  by  the  Joint  Exchequer 
Board,  shall  be  paid  into  the  Irish  Exchequer. 
Sub-section  carried  by  38  votes  to  30.  , 

(5)  All  branches  of  taxation,  other  than  Customs  and 

Excise,  shall  be  under  the  control  of  the  Irish 
Parliament. 

Sub-section  carried  by  38  votes  to  30. 


APPENDICES  165 

16.  Imperial   Contribution.    The   principle   of   such 
contribution  is  approved. 

Section  carried  unanimously, 

17    Land  Purchase.    The  Convention  accept  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  Sub-Committee  on  Land  Purchase. 
Section  carried  unanimously. 
18.  Judicial   Power.    The   following   provisions   of   the 
Government  of  Ireland  Act  to  be  adopted  :— 

{a)  Safeguarding    position    of    existing    Irish    Judges. 

(Sect.  32). 
lb)  Leaving  appointment  of  future  Judges  to  the  Irish 
Government  and  their  removal  to  the  Crown  on 
address  from  both  Houses  of  Parliament.    (Sect.  27). 

(c)  Transferring  appeals  from  the  House  of  Lords  to  the 

Judicial  Committee,  strengthened  by  Irish  Judges. 
(Sect.  28). 

(d)  Extending  right  of  appeal  to  this  Court.    (Sect.  28  (4) 

and  sect.  30  (1-2) ). 

(e)  Provision  as  to  reference  of  questions  of  validity  to 

Judicial  Committee.     (See  sect.  29). 

The  Lord  Chancellor  is  not  to  be  a  political  officer. 

Section  carried  by  43  votes  to  17. 
19  Lord  Lieutenant.  The  Lord  Lieutenant  is  not  to  be 
a  political  officer.  He  shall  hold  office  for  6  years,  and  nether 
he  nor  the  Lords  Justices  shall  be  subject  to  any  rehgious 
disquahfication.  (See  Act  of  1914,  sect.  31).  His  salary 
shall  be  sufficient  to  throw  the  post  open  to  men  of  moderate 
means. 

Section  carried  by  43  votes  to  17. 

20.  Civil  Service. 

(1)  There  shall  be  a  Civil  Service  Commission  consisting 

of  representatives  of  Irish  Universities  which  shall 
formulate  a  scheme  of  competitive  examinations  for 
admission  to  the  public  service,  including  statutory 
admmistrative  bodies,  and  no  person  shall  be  ad- 
mitted to  such  service  imless  he  holds  the  certificate 
of  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 

(2)  A  scheme  of  appointments  m  the  pubhc  service,  with 

recommendations  as  to  scales  of  salary  for  the  same 
shall  be  prepared  by  a  Commission  consistmg  of  an 
independent  Chairman  of  outstanding  position  m 
Irish  public  life,  and  two  colleagues,  one  of  whom 
shall  represent  Unionist  interests. 


166   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

(3)  No  appointments  to  positions  shall  be  made  before  the 
scheme  of  this  Commission  has  been  approved. 
Section  carried  by  42  votes  to  18. 
21.  Deferring  taking  over  certain  Irish  Services. 
Arrangements  to  be  made  to  permit  the  Irish  Government,  if 
they  so  desire,  to  defer  taking  over  the  services  relating  to 
Old  Age  Pensions,  National  Insurance,  Labour   Exchanges 
Post  Office  Trustee  Savings  Banks,  and  Friendly  Societies. 
Section  carried  by  43  votes  to  18. 

43.  In  conclusion,  we  have  pleasure  in  recording  our  high 
appreciation  of  the  unremitting  service  rendered  to  us  by  our 
Secretary,  Lord  Southborough,  at  every  stage  of  our  pro- 
tracted labours.  He  has  placed  at  our  disposal  the  wise 
counsel  and  ripe  experience  of  a  distinguished  public  servant, 
and  to  him  and  all  the  members  of  our  efficient  Secretariat  we 
tender  our  cordial  thanks. 

44.  The  Chairman  and  Secretary  have  the  honour,  by 
direction  of  the  Convention,  to  submit  the  foregoing  Report 
of  its  Proceedings  to  His  Majesty's  Government. 

Paragraph  44  carried  by  42  votes  to  35. 
The  whole  Report  carried  by  44  votes  to  29. 

Southborough,  Horace  Plunkett, 

Secretary,  Chairman. 

5th  April,  1918. 


REPORT   OF  ULSTER  UNIONIST  DELEGATES  TO 
IRISH   CONVENTION. 


1.  We,  the  Ulster  Unionist  Members  of  the  Convention,  find 
ourselves  unable  to  concur  in  the  Chairman's  I)rait  Report. 
We  protest  against  its  implication  that  a  measure  of  agreement 
regarding  Irish  Self -Government  was  attained,  which  in  fact 
was  not  the  case  as  is  evidenced  by  the  record  of  the  Divisions. 
The  provisional  conclusions  on  minor  matters  which  were 
arrived  at  in  Committee  were  strictly  contingent  on  agreement 
on  the  vital  issues.  These  were  fundamental — and  upon 
them  no  agreement  was  at  any  time  visible.  On  many  of  the 
important  questions  the  Nationalists  were  sharply  divided. 
All  discussions  were  "without  prejudice"  and  subject  t© 
complete  agreement  being  reached  on  the  whole  Scheme. 
Absolute  freedom  of  action  as  regards  decision  in  Convention 
on  aU  points  was  reserved  and  this  was  clearly  indicated 
throughout  the  proceedings. 

2.  In  confirmation  of  this  statement  the  following  extract 
from  Lord  MacDonnell's  Memorandum  issued  to  the  Conven- 
tion on  8th  March,  1918,  may  be  quoted  : — 

"  It  is  true  that  this  report  does  not  bind  the  Grand 
Committee,  still  less  the  Convention,  even  on  the  points 
on  which  no  difference  of  opinion  is  recorded,  because 
all  the  provisional  understandings  which  were  arrived  at 
were  contingent  on  a  full  agreement  on  the  general  scheme 
being  reached  ;  and  it  cannot  be  said  this  agreement  has 
been  reached." 

3.  In  order  that  an  accurate  estimate  may  be  formed  of  the 
origin  and  purpose  of  the  Irish  Convention,  it  is  necessary  to 
recall  the  political  situation  as  it  existed  in  the  early  summer 
of  1917. 

4.  The  Home  Rule  Act  of  1914,  to  which  Ulster  was  inexor- 
ably opposed,  had  been  placed  on  the  Statute  Book,  in  dis- 
regard of  the  truce  entered  into  at  the  beginning  of  the  war, 
at  which  time  an  Amending  Bill  excluding  Ulster  from  the 
Act  had  passed  through  its  initial  Parliamentary  stages  with 
general  consent  and  was  postponed  in  consequ'^nce  of  the 
European  situation. 

5.  Yielding  to  the  demands  of  the  Nationalists,  the  Prim? 


168   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

Minister,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  Mr.  John  Redmond,  on 

16th  May,  1917,  offered  :— 

(a)  A  "  bill  for  the  immediate  application  of  the  Home 
Rule  Act  to  Ireland,  but  excluding  therefrom  the 
six  Counties  of  Horth-East  Ulster "  ;  or,  alter- 
natively, 
(6)  A  Convention  of  Irishmen  "for  the  purpose  of 
drafting  a  Constitution  for  their  country  .  .  . 
which  should  secure  a  just  balance  of  all  the 
opposing  interests." 

6.  Mr.  Redmond  refused  the  first  proposal,  but  acquiesced 
in  the  suggestion  of  a  Convention,  in  which  Ulster  Unionists 
were  invited  to  join.  On  21st  May,  1917,  in  announcing  the 
Government's  intention  to  summon  the  Convention,  the 
Prime  Minister  said  :  "No  one — I  want  to  make  this  quite 
clear — by  the  mere  fact  of  going  to  the  Convention  can  be 
assumed  to  be  pledged  to  the  acceptance  or  the  rejection  of 
any  particular  proposal  or  method  for  the  Government  oi 
Ireland. 

7.  Ulster  Unionists  felt  some  natural  hesitancy  in  sending 
delegates  to  the  Convention,  but  relying  absolutely  on  this 
pledge,  and  on  further  pledges  given  by  the  Prime  Minister 
and  Mr.  Asquith,  that  Ulster  would  not  be  forced  to  come 
under  a  Dublin  Parliament,  they  ultimately  consented.  In 
taking  this  course  the  Ulster  Unionists  were  animated  by  the 
desire  to  do  what  was  best  for  the  Empire,  for  Great  Britain, 
and  for  Ireland.  They  were  satisfied  with  the  Constitution 
under  which  they  had  lived  and  prospered,  and  they  desired 
to  continue  under  the  Union  which  they  still  believe  to  be 
the  form  of  Government  best  suited  to  the  needs  of  Ireland 
and  best  calculated  to  maintain  the  stability  of  the  Empire. 
They  were  ready,  however,  to  consider  any  plan  that  might 
bo  put  forward,  provided  it  would  increase  the  happiness  and 
comfort  of  the  people  and  at  the  same  time  mamtam  the 
supremacy  oi  the  Imperial  Parliament. 

8.  Ulster  Unionists,  who  have  thrown  themselves  whole- 
heartedly into  the  war,  deplore  the  fact  that  in  this  great 
world  crisis,  when  their  entire  energies  ought  to  be  devoted 
to  providing  men  and  munitions,  they  should  be  even  tem- 
porarily diverted  from  vital  national  issues  on  which  the  very 
existence  of  the  Empire  depends  in  order  to  again  take  up  a 
subject  the  consideration  of  which  had  been  rightly  postponed 
on  the  outbreak  of  hostilities. 

9.  In  view  of  Ulster's  well-known  doubts  and  fears  and  of 
the  undeniable  fact  that  the  declared  object  of  the  Convention 
was  to  "  secure  a  just  balance  of  all  oppos'ng  interests  "  it 


APPENDICES  169 

was  not  unnatural  to  assume  that  the  Nationalists  were 
prepared  to  offer  a  modus  vivendi,  and  formulate  proposals  of 
local  Parliamentary  government  for  Ireland  which  would  at 
least : — 

(1)  Provide  for  the  absolute  supremacy  of  the  Imperial 

Parliament ; 

(2)  Maintain  the  existing  fiscal  unity ; 

(3)  Guarantee  protection  for  the  undoubted  rights  of  the 

Unionist  minority ; 

(4)  Ensure  the  safety  of  Irish  industrial  enterprises,  the 

vast  proportion  of  which  are  situated  in  the  North- 
Eastem  Counties  of  Ulster,  and  from  which  the 
bulk  of  the  Irish  Revenue  is  derived. 

10.  We  expected  that  the  real  work  of  the  Convention 
would  have  been  directed  to  a  sincere  and  patriotic  endeavour 
to  find  common  ground  somewhere  between  the  1914  Act  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  views  of  Ulster  on  the  other.  From 
the  first  week  in  which  the  Convention  sat  we  urged  this 
course,  and  repeatedly  expressed  our  disappointment  that 
almost  every  Nationalist  speech  outlined  a  form  of  Home 
Rule  far  in  advance  of  any  previous  claim. 

11.  The  Scheme  which  was  finally  brought  forward  by  the 
Bishop  of  Raphoe  on  behalf  of  the  Nationalists  included  the 
following  demands  : — 

First — A  Sovereign  Independent  Parliament  for  Ireland 
co-equal  in  power   and  authority  with  the  Imperial 
Parliament. 
Second — Complete    Fiscal    Autonomy    for    Ireland,    in- 
cluding : — 

(a)  Power  of  imposing  tarifjfs  and  control  of  Excis  e, 
involving,  as  it  would,  the  risk  of  hostile 
tarifts  against  Great  Britain  and  the  disturb- 
?nce  of  free  intercourse  between  the  two 
countries ; 
(6)  Right   of    making   Commercial    Treaties   with 

foreign  countries  ; 
(c)  Full  powers  of  direct  taxation. 
Third— Right  to  raise  and  maintain  a  IMilitary  (territorial) 

Force  in  Ireland. 
Fourth — Repudiation  of  any  liability  for  the  National 
Debt  on  the  plea  of  over-taxation  of  Ireland  in  the 
past.  Subject  to  the  consent  of  the  Irish  Parliament, 
the  principle  of  a  small  annual  contribution  towards 
Imperial  expenditure  was  admitted. 
Fifth — Denial  of  the  right  oi  the  Imperial  Parliament  to 
impose  Military  Service  in  Ireland  unless  with  the 
consent  of  the  proposed  Irish  Parliament, 


170   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

12.  WheD  the  Clause  claiming  Fiscal  Autonomy  for  Irelanfl 
was  reached,  it  soon  becanxe  evident  that  no  real  approach 
towards  agreement  was  possible.  Ai  that  stage  the  Chairman 
endeavoured  to  get  over  the  deadlock  by  putting  a  series  of 
questions  to  the  Nationalists  and  to  the  Ulster  Unionists,  and 
the  replies  sent  in  speaK  for  themselves.  The  real  object  of 
these  proposals  was  clearly  apparent  in  the  official  reply  to 
the  Chairman's  queries  of  6th  November,  signed  by  the 
following  Nationalist  Leaders  : — John  Kedmond,  the  Lord 
Bishop  of  Raphoe,  Joseph  Devlin,  George  Russell. 

13.  In  this  document  the  Nationalists  again  emphatically 
insisted  upon  their  demand  for  Ireland's  fiscal  independence, 
and  crystalised  their  argument  in  the  following  terms  : — "  We 
regard  Ireland  as  a  National,  an  economic  entity.  Self- 
government  does  not  exist  where  those  nominally  entrusted 
with  aftairs  of  Government  have  not  control  of  fiscal  and 
economic  policy." 

14.  It  is,  therefore,  clear  that  Fiscal  Autonomy  includiDg 
the  control  of  Customs  and  Excise  and  National  taxation  is 
valued  by  the  Nationalists  not  only  on  the  ground  of  supposed 
economic  advantage  but  as  an  essential  symbol  of  National 
independence.  In  opposition  to  this  Ulster  takes  a  firm  stand 
on  the  basis  of  th^  people's  common  prosperity,  and  maintains 
that  the  Fiscal  unity  of  the  United  Kingdom  must  be  preserved 
intact,  carrying  with  it  as  it  does  the  sovereijrnty  of  the 
Imperial  Parliament  and  due  representation  therein. 

15.  The  important  qtiestion  of  how  far  Ireland  should 
contribute  to  Imperial  taxation  raised  much  controversy.  In 
the  earlier  stages  of  the  discussior  s  some  prominent  Nationalists 
stated  quite  frankly  that  they  recognised  no  responsibility 
for  any  portion  of  the  pre-war  National  Debt,  nor  for  the 
present  war  expenditure,  whilst  we  claimed  that  in  justice 
and  in  honour  Ireland  must  continue  to  pay  her  full  share  of 
both.  The  majority  of  the  Nationalists  declined  to  admit 
such  liability. 

16.  During  the  financial  year  just  ended  Ireland's  Imperial 
contribution  will,  it  is  estimated,  amount  to  about  thirteen 
millions  sterling,  and  possibly  to  twenty  millions  next  year. 

An  important  section  of  the  Nationalists  objected  to  any 
Imperial  contribution  being  paid,  but  the  larger  number 
favoured  a  contribution  ranging  from  two  and  a  half  to  four 
and  a  half  millions  sterling  per  annum.  It  was  invariably  a 
condition  that  the  contribution  should  be  purely  volimtary 
and  at  the  pleasure  of  the  Irish  Parliament.  We  listened  to 
these  suggestions  with  keen  disappointment,  knowing  of  no 
reason  why  Ireland,  which  is  abundantly  prosperous,  should 


APPENDICES  171 

not  in  the  hour  of  the  Empire's  need  contribute  her  full  share 
of  men  and  money.  We  have  always  contended  that  there 
should  be  equality  of  sacrifice  in  every  part  of  the  United 
Kingdom. 

17.  As  already  pointed  out,  a  further  Clause  in  the  Bishop 
of  Raphoe's  Scheme  with  which  we  found  it  impossible  to  agree 
claimed  that  compulsory  Military  Service  could  not  be  imposed 
upon  Ireland  by  Great  Britain  unless  with  the  consent  of  the 
Irish  Parliament,  and  this  demand  was  supported  by  a  majority 
vote  of  the  Convention. 

18.  Again,  h  was  claim sd  that,  in  contradistinction  to  the 
provisions  of  all  previous  Home  Rule  Bills,  the  Royal  Irish 
Constabulary,  a  semi-Military  Force,  should  immediately  at 
the  conclusion  of  the  war  come  imder  the  control  of  the  Irish 
Parliament.  The  1914  Act  provided  that  this  Force  should 
remain  tmder  Imperial  control  for  a  period  of  six  years.  In 
the  preseno  state  of  Ireland  such  a  proposal  must  be  regarded 
as  "  excessively  dangerous."  This  is  the  opinion  expressed 
by  the  Inspector-General  of  the  Force,  whose  statement 
appears  in  the  Appendices  I.G.  27. 

19.  Failing  any  evidence  of  an  approach  to  a  narrowing  of 
our  differences,  and  in  view  of  the  new  demands  made  and 
adhered  to  by  the  Nationalists,  we  were  finally  forced  to  declare 
that  in  any  such  scheme  of  Self -Government  for  Ireland  Ulster 
could  not  participate.  We  cannot  overlook  the  strong 
probability  that  the  controlling  force  in  such  a  Parliament 
would  to-day  be  the  Republican  or  Sinn  Fein  Party,  whichio 
openly  and  aggressively  hostile  to  Great  Britain  and  to  the 
Empire.  Durmg  recent  months  in  many  parts  of  Ireland, 
outside  of  Ulster,  there  has  been  a  great  renewal  of  lawlessness, 
and  crime  bordering  on  anarchy,  which  unfortunately  has  not 
been  adequately  dealt  with  by  the  Irish  Executive. 

20.  A  most  remarkable  situation  arose  in  the  Convention 
when  a  vote  was  taken  on  the  proposal  to  adjourn  the  pro- 
ceedings until  an  assurance  was  received  from  the  Government 
that  they  would  promptly  take  efiective  steps  to  restore  law 
and  order  and  repress  outrage  throughout  Ireland.  Fifty 
Nationalist  Members  voted  against  that  proposal,  and  33 
Members,  including  the  Ulster  Unionists,  voted  for  it. 

21 .  A  proposal  was  brought  forward,  under  which,  in  anlrish 
Parliament  Unionists  should  have  a  temporary  representation 
largely  in  excess  of  what  they  are  eniitled  to  on  the  basis  of 
population.  While  appreciating  the  spirit  of  this  ofier  it 
was  felt,  after  full  consideration,  that  the  undemocratic 
character  of  this    proposal  rendered  it  wholly  unacceptable. 


172   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

22.  On  the  Land  Question  a  Report  containing  valuable 
suggestions  wasjsubmitted  by  theJ^jCommittee  to  which  the 
subject  had  been  referred.  This  Report  was  unanimously 
adopted  as  there  was  a  desire  amongst  all  sections  to  have  the 
great  regenerative  scheme  of  Land  Purchase  completed 
without  further  delay. 

23.  The  Committee  appomted  to  consider  the  urgent  neces- 
sity for  providing  additional  Workmen's  houses  in  Urban 
Districts  reported  in  favour  ot  comprehensive  schemes  being 
at  once  undertaken  by  the  Local  Authorities,  an  Imperial 
grant  in  aid  to  be  provided  by  the  Treasury.  This  Report 
was  also  unanimously  adopted. 

24.  We  regret  that  instead  of  proposals  being  made  to 
remove  our  objections,  the  policy  pursued  by  the  Isationalists 
in  the  Convention  strengthened  our  opinion  that  Home  Rule 
would  intensify  existing  divisions  in  Ireland  and  prove  a 
constant  menace  to  the  Empire.  Had  we  thought  that  the 
majority  of  the  Convention  intended  to  demand,  not  the 
subordinate  powers  contained  in  previous  Home  Rule  Bills, 
but  what  is  tantamount  to  full  national  independence,  we 
could  not  have  agreed  to  enter  the  Convention. 

25.  While  firmly  believing  that  Home  Rule  would  be 
inimical  to  the  highest  interests  of  Ireland  and  the  Empire, 
Ulster  Unionists,  with  the  object  of  meeting  the  Nationalists, 
presented  an  alternative  scheme  for  the  exclusion  of  Ulster 
based  on  lines  agreed  to  by  the  official  Nationalist  Party 
in  1916. 

26.  The  discussions  have  proved  beyond  doubt  that  the 
aim  of  the  Nationalists  is  to  establish  a  Parliament  in  Ireland 
which  would  be  practically  free  from  effective  control  by  the 
Imperial  Parliament.  It  is  only  necessary  to  draw  attention 
to  modern  political  movements  to  realise  the  unwisdom  of 
establishing  within  the  United  Kingdom  two  Parliaments 
having  co-equal  powers.  All  other  countries  have  fought 
against  this  disintegrating  policy. 

27.  The  Australian  States,  weary  of  local  commercial 
disputes,  combined  in  one  fiscal  unit  in  which  they  were 
joined  by  Tasmania — an  Island  much  akin  to  Ireland  in  the 
matter  of  area. 

28.  The  United  States  of  America  established,  at  the  cost 
of  much  blood  and  treasure.  National  unity  when  the  Con- 
federacy claimed,  like  the  Irish  Nationalsts,  the  right  to  set 
up  an  Independent  Government. 

39.  With  these  and  other  examples  before  us  we  cannot 


APPENDICES 


173 


help  feeling  that  the  demands  put  forward,  if  conceded,  would 
create  turmoil  at  home  and  weakness  abroad. 

30.  One  of  the  many  objections  to  the  Scheme  presented  in 
the  Report  is  that  it  would  make  the  future  application  of 
Federalism  to  the  United  Kingdom  impossible. 

31.  For  the  reasons  stated  we  could  not  accept  the  proposals 
put  forward  by  the  Nationalists. 

32.  We  desire  to  record  our  appreciation  of  the  uniform 
courtesy  and  good  feeling  which  characterised  the  proceedings 
of  the  Convention  throughout. 


Hugh  T.  Barbie. 

Londonderry. 

Abercorn. 

Crawford  McCullagh. 

R.  G.  Sharman-Crawfobd 

(Col.). 
R.  N.  Anderson. 
M.  E.  Knight. 
John  Irwin. 
John  Hanna. 
H.  B.  Armstrong. 


J.  Jackson  Clark. 

G.  S.  Clark. 

Robert  H.  Wallace  (Col.). 

J.  Stottppe  F.  McCance. 

H.  Grattan  MacGeagh. 

W.  Whitla. 

James  Johnston, 

Lord  Mayor  of  Belfast, 
H.  M.  Pollock. 
John  McMeekan. 


Ul  April,  1918. 


KOTE   BY   THE    PROVOST   OF   TRINITY   COLLEGE 
AND  THE   ARCHBISHOP   OF   ARMAGH. 


We  have  not  found  it  possible  to  vote  for  the  conclusion 
reached  by  the  majority  of  the  members  of  this  Convention. 
It  involves,  in  our  opinion,  either  of  two  alternatives  :- 

(1)  The  coercion  of  Ulster,  which  is  unthinkable. 

(2)  The  partition  of  Ireland,  which  would  be  disastrous. 

We  have  more  than  once  put  forward  a  Federal  Scheme 
based  on  the  Swiss  or  Canadian  precedent,  which  might  ensure 
a  united  Ireland  with  provincial  autonomy  for  Ulster,  or  any 
other  Province  that  desired  it. 

This  scheme  would  also  be  capable  of  being  adapted  to  some 
larger  scheme  of  Imperial  Federation  for  the  whole  British 
Empire. 

J.  P.  Mahaffy, 

Provost  of  Trinity  College. 

John  B.  Armagh, 

Primate. 


REPORT   BY   THE   UNDERSIGNED   NATIONALISTS. 


1.  The  object  set  before  the  Convention  was  to  frame  a 
Constitution  for  Ireland  within  the  Empire.  This  was  the 
first  time  the  Government  had  assigned  such  a  commission 
to  a  body  of  Irishmen,  and  we  approached  the  task  with  a 
deep  sense  of  the  gravity  of  the  circumstances  in  which  the 
idea  of  the  Convention  originated  as  well  as  of  the  responsibility 
which  rested  upon  us  of  giving  the  best  answer  in  our  power 
to  a  reference  of  such  supreme  in^portance. 

2.  Though  its  function  was  to  draft  a  Constitution,  the 
Convention  was  not  a  Constituent  Assembly  with  a  direct 
mandate  from  the  people  to  plan  the  form  of  Government 
under  which  they  desired  to  live.  Still  it  might  well  claim 
a  considerable  measure  of  authority  for  its  proceedings. 
Except  for  some  important  political  and  labour  abstentions  it 
has  worthily  reflected  almost  every  phase  and  interest  and  class 
in  the  varied  life  of  Ireland.  But  there  has  been  no  sure 
means  of  knowing  how  far  it  exhibited  the  mind  and  will  of 
Ireland  at  the  present  time,  even  as  regards  the  parties  officially 
represented  in  it,  nor  any  guarantee  that  its  decisions,  inde- 
pendentlj''  of  suggestions  made  by  the  Government,  would 
take  efiect  in  law.  The  Sinn  Fein  organisation  stood  altogether 
aloof. 

3.  Nevertheless,  whatever  the  difficulties  might  be,  we 
determined  to  make  the  most  of  the  unique  opportunity  that 
presented  itself  when  Irishmen  of  opposing  parties  were  for 
the  first  time  to  come  together  in  a  large  body  to  discuss  in 
friendship  the  future  government  of  their  country  at  a  great 
crisis  in  the  world's  history.  To  co-operate  in  devising  a 
scheme  of  National  self-government  which  would  satisfy  the 
reasonable  aspirations  of  our  fellow-countrymen,  and  provide 
adequate  safeguards  for  minorities,  was  altogether  according 
to  our  desires.  We  believed  that  if  a  measure  giving  us  full 
control  over  our  own  affairs  was  agreed  to,  and  given  effect 
to  by  the  Government,  the  vast  majority  of  Irish  Nationalists 
would  accept  it  and  bend  their  minds  to  makiug  it  a  success, 
and  that  the  good  will  to  the  Constitution  which  had  followed 
self-government  in  the  Dominions  would  speedily  spring  up 
here. 

4.  Such  hopes  as  were  entertained  of  success  in  building 
a  worthy  edifice  from  these  foundations  were  strengthened  by 
the  preliminary  debates  of  the  Convention,  which  were  upon 


176  THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

a  high  level,  and  showed  a  real  desire  for  mutual  enlighten- 
ment and  understanding.  It  looked  as  if  the  gravity  of  the 
times,  the  principles  of  freedom  for  which  the  Allied  Nations 
claimed  to  stand,  the  widespread  desire  for  a  settlement 
throughout  the  Dominions  and  among  our  American  kindred, 
and  the  disastrous  consequences  of  further  conflict  and  dis- 
union, might  bring  about  a  spontaneous  resolve  among  all  the 
assembled  delegates  to  establish  our  country  as  a  free  and 
contented  nation  within  the  Empire. 

5.  These  expectations  have  been  only  in  part  realised.  The 
Southern  Unionist  delegates,  abandoning  a  long  tradition  of 
opposition  to  Home  Rule,  came  forward  frankly  and  fairly 
to  assist  in  planning  a  scheme  of  self-government.  We  readily 
acknowledge  the  patriotism  of  their  action,  and  we  can  only 
regret  deeply  that  on  one  point,  the  control  of  Customs,  which 
we  regarded  as  vital,  they  could  not  see  eye  to  eye  with  us, 
and  thus  ejSect  a  complete  mutual  agreement  on  a  Constitution, 

6.  The  Labour  delegates  also  took  a  very  useful  part  in  the 
deliberations.  As  a  body  they  were  strongly  in  favour  of  a 
measure  of  self-government  for  Ireland. 

7.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Ulster  Unionists,  who  were  in 
close  touch  with  their  supporters  in  the  North,  to  our  great 
regret  did  not  see  their  way  to  give  much  co-operation  in 
constriTctive  work  along  the  lines  which  the  Convention  was 
following.  The  objections  which  they  formulated  to  our 
proposals  would,  if  given  effect  to,  reduce  the  Irish  Parliament 
to  a  low  level  at  the  outset.  What  their  view  might  be  in 
an  Irish  Parliament  is  a  different  matter.  Every  one  of  the 
Dominions  contained  a  minority  of  citizens  accustomed  to 
identify  themselves  with  Imperial  interests  who  predicted  a 
calamity  for  their  country  and  the  whole  Empire  if  self-govern- 
ment were  fully  conceded.  We  are  confident  that  the  experi- 
ence of  the  Convention  will  tend  to  remove  any  such  feeling 
in  Ulster  ;  and,  in  order  to  make  it  easy  for  our  esteemed 
fellow-countrymen  to  join  on  fair  terms  in  one  Parliament 
for  the  whole  country,  we  went  so  far  as  to  concede  them  a 
large  measure  of  additional  elected  representation  in  the  Irish 
House  of  Commons.  They  would  be  a  powerful  and  effective 
element  in  an  Irish  Parliament. 

8.  We  realised  clearly  from  the  outset  that  to  obtain  an 
agreement  upon  Home  Rule  for  a  United  Ireland,  and  thus 
fulfil  the  purpose  of  the  Convention,  compromise  was  neces- 
sary. But  we  also  realised  that  to  carry  compromise  to  the 
point  of  agreeing  to  a  scheme  which,  in  our  judgment,  Ireland 
would  not  accept  from  us  would  be  very  unwise,  apart  from 
our  own  decided  opinions  on  the  right  solution  of  the  Irish 
problem.    The  truth  is,  that  it  is  in  the  control  by  Irishmen 


APPENDICES  177 

of  the  machinery  of  Irish  Government  rather  than  in  a  reduc- 
tion of  the  powers  of  the  Irish  Parliament  that  the  best  field 
is  to  be  found  for  a  reasonable  compromise.  This  brings  us 
to  the  recommendations  of  our  Report. 

9.  The  terms  of  reference  given  to  the  Convention  contained 
the  single  limitation  that  the  Constitution  must  be  within  the 
Empire. 

10.  Within  the  Empire  and  peculiar  to  it,  there  is  a  form 
of  Constitution,  enjoyed  by  all  the  self-governing  Dominions, 
which  has  brought  peace,  contentment  and  prosperity  to  those 
nations,  together  with  an  attachment  to  the  Empire  which 
has  grown  steadily  firmer,  even  after  rebellion  and  open  war. 
This  form  of  Constitution  rests  on  three  main  principles- — 
(1)  the  Imperial  Parliament  retains  full  control  over  all 
Imperial  affairs,  foreign  relations,  the  making  of  peace  and 
war,  the  Army  and  Navy.  (2)  The  Dominion  Parliament  is 
technically  a  subordinate  one,  whose  Bills  must  receive  the 
Royal  Assent  to  become  valid,  and  whose  Acts  may  legally  be 
over-ridden  by  the  Imperial  Parliament.  (3)  Subject  to  these 
limitations,  the  Dominion  has  unfettered  power  of  national 
self-government,  including  full  control  of  all  taxation. 

11.  Ireland  is  a  Nation,  and  it  is  upon  a  like  foundation 
that  we  believe  the  Irish  Constitution  should  now  be  built. 
There  is  room  for  compromise  on  details,  and  even  on  secondary 
questions  of  principle,  and  there  is  abundant  room  for  com- 
promise of  the  wisest  kind  in  the  form  of  safeguards  for  the 
minorities  inside  Ireland,  without  limiting  the  powers  of 
Ireland  as  a  whole.  But  we  think  it  essential  to  abide  by  the 
principle  that  Irish  affairs,  including  all  branches  of  taxation 
should  be  under  the  Irish  Parliament. 

12.  It  has  often  been  said  in  our  debates,  and  outside  them, 
that  it  would  be  unsafe  for  Great  Britain  to  permit  an  island 
so  near  her  to  have  political  power  resembling  in  any  degree 
that  of  the  Dominions.  As  regards  national  defence,  we  have 
allowed  a  difference  to  exist  ;  and  in  the  matter  of  trade  there 
is  room  for  a  special  arrangement.  But,  as  to  the  rest,  we 
can  only  reply  that  reconciliation  between  the  two  countries 
is  made  exceedingly  difficult  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the 
British  people  sincerely  believe  in  liberty  for  its  own  sake, 
and  are  willing,  to  apply  to  Ireland  the  principle  that  the 
supposed  military  interests  of  great  states  shall  not  over-ride 
the  rights  of  small  nationalities  living  alongside  them.  The 
noble  principle  of  liberty,  which  has  had  such  a  unifying  effect 
in  the  Dominions  during  the  war  now  devastating  Europe 
surely  cannot  lose  its  virtue  when  applied  to  an  island  near  to 
Great  Britain,  where  mutual  interests  and  intimate  commercial 
relations  ought  to  promise  an  even  closer  friendship. 


178    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

13.  While  we  think,  therefore,  that  any  settlement  founded 
on  distrust  of  Ireland  will  fail  in  its  effect,  and  that  the  nearer 
the  Irish  Constitution  approaches  to  that  of  the  Dominions 
the  better  will  be  its  prospects,  we  have  striven  with  earnest 
sincerity  to  meet  the  opposition  of  Unionist  minorities  in 
Ireland,  and  allay  their  fears  with  safeguards  which  do  not 
infringe  any  vital  principle.  We  take  in  turn  the  points  where 
difference  has  arisen,  and  the  proposals  which  we  make  for 
compromise. 

Customs  and  Excise. 

14.  The  principal  point  of  difference  arose  on  finance.  We 
asked  for  full  powers  of  taxation.  The  Ulster  representatives 
wished  to  reserve  all  powers  of  taxation  to  the  Imperial 
Parliament,  and  only  modified  this  demand  to  the  extent  of 
allowing  to  the  Irish  Parliament  some  undefined  taxing  power 
of  its  own.  The  Southern  Unionists  were  prepared  to  concede 
direct  taxation  and  Excise  to  the  Irish  Parliament,  and  ad- 
mitted the  reasonableness  of  Ireland's  claim  to  separate 
Customs  treatment  by  proposing  an  arrangement  which,  in 
effect,  would  place  a  moral  obligation  upon  the  Imperial 
Parliament  of  imposing  lower  Customs  duties  in  Ireland  than 
in  Great  Britain  upon  articles  of  general  consumption.  They 
could  not  see  their  way  to  go  further  and  aUow  the  Irish 
Parliament  control  over  Customs.  Ultimately  they  acquiesced 
in  a  proposition  from  the  Government  that  leaves  the  control 
of  Customs  and  Excise  to  the  decision  of  the  Imperial  Parlia- 
ment after  the  war.  In  an  Irish  Parliament  we  have  no  doubt 
that  many  of  them  would  claim  the  fiscal  autonomy  which 
more  than  one  of  them  advocated  in  the  earlier  stages  of  the 
Convention. 

15.  The  taxing  power  so  deeply  affects  the  welfare  and 
prosperity  of  the  people,  the  dignity  of  Parliament,  and  the 
wise  and  economical  administration  of  the  Government,  that 
no  part  of  it  could  be  placed  under  external  control  without 
perpetuating  friction  with  Great  Britain  and  discontent  in 
Ireland.  The  control  of  indirect  taxation,  which  determines 
the  course  of  trade  and  in  normal  times  produced  seventy 
per  cent,  of  Irish  tax-revenue,  is  of  especial  importance. 
Irish  Government  cannot  be  financed  without  drawing  largely 
on  these  sources  of  revenue,  nor  can  an  equitable  balance 
between  direct  and  indirect  taxation  be  obtained  if  two 
authorities  instead  of  one  are  controlling  them.  Moreover, 
the  indirect  taxes  affect  articles  of  general  consumption  among 
the  mass  of  the  population,  including  necessaries  of  life. 

16.  Economically,  Ireland  is,  and  always  has  been,  different 
from  Great  Britain.     It  is  a  much  poorer  country,  and  a 


APPENDICES  179: 

country  with  few  manufacturing  industries.  It  has  sufiered 
severely  from  over-taxation  under  the  Union,  and  urgently 
needs  a  separate  fiscal  system  under  Irish  control.  There  is 
not  an  instance  in  the  world  of  an  island  differing  so  radically 
from  a  powerful  neighbouring  country  being  united  with  it 
under  a  common  fiscal  system. 

17.  No  exception  can  be  made  in  the  case  of  Customs, 
which,  under  the  present  free  trade  system,  comprise  the  duties 
on  such  important  articles  as  sugar,  tea,  cofiee  and  tobacco. 
Moreover  fiscal  systems  everywhere  are  in  the  melting  pot,  and 
there  is  a  likelihood  of  radical  change  in  the  British  system. 
No  change  could  possibly  afiect  Ireland  and  Great  Britain  in 
the  same  way,  and  we  consider  it  necessary  that  Ireland  should 
have  the  right  of  guarding  her  own  trade  interests  and  con- 
trolling her  own  trade  policy.  It  may  be  said  with  truth  that 
the  power  of  each  state  within  the  Empire  to  control  the  whole 
of  its  own  taxation,  and  especially  its  Customs,  is  the  very 
corner-stone  of  Imperial  unity. 

18.  Federaton  is  not  in  view.  Even  if  it  were,  and  Ireland 
were  still  intent  on  retaining  control  of  her  Customs,  her  sea 
boundary  and  her  distinct  national  character  and  economic 
interests  would  give  her  a  claim  in  that  respect  which  no 
member  of  a  federation  anywhere  else  can  advance. 

19.  It  has  been  said  that  to  give  the  Irish  Government  the 
power  of  negotiating  commercial  arrangements  with  foreign 
countries  will  complicate  foreign  relations  and  place  her  in  an 
unwarrantably  privileged  position.  We  answer  that  no  such 
complications  arise  in  the  case  of  the  Dominions,  and  that 
what  we  ask  for  implies,  in  our  own  case  as  in  theirs,  no 
diminution  of  Imperial  authority.  Any  such  trade  arrange- 
ment has  to  be  negotiated  through  the  agency  of  the  Colonial 
Office,  as  representing  the  Imperial  Government,  in  which 
the  treaty -making  power  alone  resides. 

20.  Another  objection  was  the  inconvenience  to  trade  if  a 
Customs  barrier  were  set  up  and  ships  were  searched  for 
dutiable  articles.  But  the  system  was  in  force  here  until 
the  middle  of  the  last  century.  It  still  prevails  in  trade,  not 
only  with  America,  France,  and  foreign  countries  generally, 
but  with  the  Dominions,  the  Crown  Colonies,  and  even  the 
Channel  Islands.  It  is,  moreover,  the  only  effective  means  of 
ascertaining  what  the  true  income  of  Ireland  amounts  to. 
The  revenue  at  present  attributed  to  Ireland  in  respect  of  tea 
and  other  dutiable  commodities  is  official  guesswork,  founded 
mainly  on  the  numbers  of  the  population. 

21.  But  the  strongest  objection  made  to  the  control  of 
Customs,    an   objection    urged    principally    by    the    Ulster 


180   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 


Unionists,  was  that  it  might  interrupt  free  trade  between 
Ireland  and  Great  Britain.  They  stated  that  the  raw 
materials  of  Ulster  industry  were  drawn  mainly  from  Great 
Britain,  which  was  also  the  market  for  much  of  their  finished 
produce,  and  that  close  commercial  intercourse  was  therefore 
essential.  But  this  is  true  also  of  Irish  agriculture,  for  whose 
products,  which  are  perishable,  and  are  exported  in  normal 
times  to  a  greater  value  than  the  products  of  all  the  Ulster 
industries  combined.  Great  Britain  is  at  the  present  time  the 
best  and  practically  the  only  market.  It  would  be  folly  to 
oSend  our  best  customer. 

22.  As  both  countries  are  so  deeply  interested  in  free  access 
to  one  another's  markets,  we  believe  that  mutual  advantage 
would  be  a  surer  guarantee  of  free  and  friendly  intercourse 
than  any  legal  restrictions.  But,  in  order  to  meet  Unionist 
fears,  we  are  ready  to  agree  to  provisions  in  the  Constitutional 
Act  maintaining  free  trade  between  the  two  countries  in  articles 
of  home  produce,  subject  to  safeguards  against  dumping,  for 
a  reasonable  term  of  years,  and  thereafter  by  mutual  agree- 
ment .  This  would  ensure  that  if  any  change  became  absolutely 
necessary,  owing  either  to  an  altered  tariff  policy  in  Great 
Britain,  or  to  any  other  reason,  it  could  not  be  made  without 
prolonged  deliberation  in  the  Irish  Parliament. 

23.  We  desire  to  recall  the  fact  that  in  proposing  full 
powers  of  taxation  for  Ireland  we  are  not  making  a  new  or 
unsupported  claim.  The  three  most  eminent  financial 
authorities  upon  the  Financial  Relations  Commission  of  1895 — 
Lord  Farrer,  Lord  Welby,  and  Mr.  Bertram  Currie — reported 
in  a  powerful  reasoned  arguni,ent,  while  disclaiming  all  political 
prepossessions,  that  this  was  the  only  sound  method  of  solving 
the  question.  The  Primrose  Committee  of  financial  experts, 
no  longer  ago  than  1911,  unanimously  and  with  equal  emphasis 
reported  to  the  same  effect,  recommending  the  Irish  control 
of  Customs  with  arrangements  for  free  trade  between  the  two 
countries.  None  of  the  arguments  used  by  these  high 
authorities,  after  exhaustive  investigation,  have  lost  their 
weight,  and  some  have  gained  strength. 

24.  The  Act  of  1914,  which  gives  Ireland  some  restricted 
powers  in  regard  to  Customs,  contains  in  Section  26  a  distinct 
guarantee  that  when  Irish  revenue  had  met  Irish  expenditure 
for  three  successive  years,  the  financial  arrangements  would 
be  revised  for  the  express  purpose  of  increasing  the  powers 
of  the  Irish  Parliament  over  taxation,  as  well  as  for  settling 
an  Imperial  contribution.  The  condition  is  now  fulfilled.  A 
large  balance  of  revenue  over  expenditure  has  been  growing 
for  three  years,  and  it  can  no  longer  be  said  that  an  estimated 


APPENDICES  181 

deficit  justifies  any  curtailment  of  Irish  control  over  Irish 
finance. 

25.  We  fully  agree  that  there  should  be  some  regular 
machinery  for  ensuring  close  co-operation  between  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  in  commercial  and  postal  matters  ;  and 
we,  therefore,  propose  the  establishment  of  a  Joint  Advisory 
Commission  with  power  to  make  agreements  and  recom- 
mendations on  these  important  matters. 

The  Imperial  Contribution. 

26.  A  most  important  financial  question  is  the  nature  and 
amount  of  the  contribution  to  be  made  by  Ireland  to  Imperial 
services.  The  obligation  of  Ireland  to  contribute  according 
to  her  means  we  accept  without  question.  As  to  the  method, 
our  view  is  that  this  is  another  case  where  the  greatest  wisdom 
would  lie  in  following  the  Dominion  precedent — that  is,  in 
making  the  matter  one  of  voluntary  negotiation  between  the 
Irish  and  Imperial  Governments,  the  contribution  taking  the 
form  of  payment  for  services  of  an  Imperial  nature,  as  by  the 
maintenance  of  forces  for  local  defence  or  the  provision  of 
ships.  Ireland,  on  her  side,  would  renounce  all  claim  to  sub- 
sidies or  payments  of  any  kind  from  the  British  Exchequer. 
This  would  make  a  clean  financial  settlement.  Great  Britain 
would  not  be  exacting  what  many  might  regard  as  tribute. 
Ireland  would  wipe  out  bitter  memories  of  over-taxation  and 
neglect,  and  face  the  future  not  only  as  a  self-reliant  country 
but  as  a  more  willing  because  a  more  free  contributor  to  the 
common  defence.  It  must  be  recognised  that  if  this  plan  is 
not  adopted  and  a  statutory  contribution  is  to  be  enforced 
by  law,  there  is  no  logical  course  but  to  re-open  intricate 
questions  of  taxable  capacity,  which  will  inevitably  bring  into 
prominence  the  oVer-taxation  of  Ireland  in  the  past,  and  will 
be  held  to  jtistify  claims  for  compensation. 

27.  In  view  of  strong  Unionist  feeling,  however,  we  do  not 
press  our  views  upon  the  point,  and  are  willing  to  agree  to 
statutory  payment,  to  be  fixed  provisionally  at  the  o  tset  and 
afterwards  by  agreement  between  the  Imperia  j  and  Irish 
Governments.  We  only  stipulate  that  the  annual  expenses  of 
Land  Purchase,  which  must  be  regarded  as  an  Imperial  obliga- 
tion, though  an  Irish  service,  as  well  as  the  cost  of  any  defence 
forces  that  may  be  raised  and  maintained  in  the  future  by  the 
Irish  Government,  shall  be  set  off  against  the  sum  so  fixed. 
The  same  applies,  in  a  large  measure,  to  the  Housing  scheme. 
The  balance  could  best  be  paid  in  kind  by  the  provision  of 
ships  or  other  war  material  manufactured  in  Ireland. 


182   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

Local  Forces. 

28.  Any  settlement  which  prohibited  Ireland,  as  a  matter 
of  principle,  from  providing  military  forces  for  her  own  local 
defence  in  the  constitutional  manner  customary  in  the 
Dominions  would,  in  our  opinion,  be  unacceptable.  The  con- 
fidence shown  by  entrusting  her  with  such  a  power  would,  we 
are  convinced,  be  repaid  a  thousandfold.  But  here,  again, 
we  have  felt  it  our  duty  to  give  way  to  cautious  views,  and  we 
propose  that  the  power  should  remain  in  abeyance  for  five 
years,  and  should  then  depend  on  the  consent  of  the  Imperial 
Conference,  upon  which  Ireland  should  be  duly  represented. 

29.  As  regards  the  question  of  conscription,  we  are  ready  to 
take  it  for  granted  that  no  attempt  would  be  made  to  apply 
it  to  Ireland  without  the  consent  of  the  Irish  Parliament. 
Any  attempt  to  impose  conscription  upon  a  nation  without 
its  sanction  is  utterly  impolitic  and  unjust,  and  is  bound  to 
end  in  disaster. 

Kepresentation  at  Westminster. 

30.  We  preferred  that  this  representation  should  cease  until 
such  time  as  a  Parliament  is  created  in  which  aU  parts  of  the 
Empire  or  the  Realm  could  be  properly  and  equitably  repre- 
sented. Until  that  time  we  believe  that  every  purpose  served 
by  representation  could  be  better  served  by  arrangements  for 
regular  and  systematic  conference  between  the  Irish  and 
British  Governments  in  a  permanent  consultative  council. 
By  sending  members  to  the  British  Parliament  at  West- 
minster, after  we  have  obtained  a  Parliament  of  our  own,  we 
risk  incurring  the  odium  of  disturbing  the  balance  of  English 
parties  and  influencing  questions  on  which  we  are  not  con- 
cerned, without  any  security  that  in  matters  where  Ireland 
is  properly  concerned  her  voice  will  carry  its  due  weight,  since 
in  order  to  avoid  too  much  dislocation  it  is  necessary  to  reduce 
her  membership  far  below  the  number  to  which  her  population 
entitles  her.  But  in  view  of  the  great  importance  attached 
by  Unionists  to  this  representation,  we  were  reluctant  to 
maintain  our  opposition,  and  we  accordingly  agreed  to  a 
delegation  of  42  Irish  members  being  sent  to  Westminster  by 
the  Irish  Parliament.  That  is  the  form  of  representation  at 
Westminster  that  will  least  distract  Irish  attention  from  the 
necessary  concentration  at  home,  and  least  divide  the  views 
of  our  members  in  London  from  those  of  the  Irish  Parliament. 

Safeguards  for  Minorities. 

3L  All  the  points  we  have  hitherto  dealt  with  are  concerned 
with  the  future  constitutional  relations  between  Ireland  and 


APPENDICES  183 

Great  Britain,  and  the  powers  to  be  exercised  by  the  Irish 
Parliament.  In  regard  to  safeguards  for  minorities  in  Ireland 
against  any  misuse  of  these  powers  that  they  might  fear,  we 
have  gone  to  extreme  lengths  in  our  anxiety  to  reach  a  settle- 
ment. 

32.  That  political  parties  will  long  continue  on  existing 
lines  seems  most  unlikely.  But  we  have  agreed  that  an  Irish 
House  of  Commons  at  the  outset  shall  have  a  Unionist  strength 
of  40  per  cent,  and  that  the  Upper  House  shall  consist  of 
nominated  and  e,x  officio  members,  of  peers  elected  by  their 
own  order,  and  of  other  members  elected  by  their  own  class. 
The  two  Houses  would  sit  and  Vote  together  on  questions  in 
dispute  between  them,  including  Money  Bills. 

33.  These  arrangements  are  intended  to  give  to  commercial 
and  industrial  interests,  and  to  Unionist  views  generally,  a 
powerful  Voice  in  the  final  decision  of  all  legislative  questions, 
including  financial  measures. 

34.  We  are  aware  that  in  agreeing  to  these  arrangements  we 
put  a  severe  strain  on  the  Irish  democracy,  and  hazard  the 
adverse  opinion  of  the  outside  world.  But  we  take  the  risk 
on  condition  that  full  powers  of  self-government,  especially 
full  economic  and  financial  powers,  are  entrusted  to  the 
Parliament  so  constituted.  We  believe  the  guarantee  offered 
against  the  wrongful  and  imprudent  exercise  of  these  powers 
to  be  needless.  But,  provided  that  Irish  questions  are  left  to 
the  decision  of  the  Irish  Parliament,  we  trust  our  countrymen 
of  North,  South,  East  and  West  to  act  loyally  and  patriotically 
in  the  interests  of  Ireland. 

35.  The  nomination  of  some  Members  to  the  Lower  House 
appears  to  be  the  only  sure  and  practicable  way  of  providing 
adequate  minority  representation  for  the  Southern  Unionists. 
In  the  case  of  the  Ulster  Unionists,  who  prefer  election,  we 
should  be  willing  to  agree  to  securing  larger  representation 
for  them  by  arranging  for  smaller  electoral  quotas  or  for  any 
electoral  expedient  which  would  effect  the  desired  result.  As 
regards  the  Ulster  difficulty,  we  know  of  no  other  plan  which 
would  not  impair  the  efficiency  of  Parliament  and  keep  in 
being  religious  antagonisms  which  all  good  Irishmen  desire 
to  see  ended. 

Civil  Service  Commissions. 

36.  We  propose  the  establishment  of  fairly  constituted 
Civil  Service  Commissions  to  regulate  competitive  examinations 
and  advise  on  all  patronage  and  appointments, 


184   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

Temporary  Arrangements  during  the  War. 

37.  So  far  from  thinking  that  the  war  should  further  delay 
the  establishment  of  an  Irish  Executive  and  Parliament,  we 
regard  a  postponement  of  these  measures  as  a  disaster  and 
their  prompt  passage  into  law  an  advantage  which  no  ad- 
ministrative difficulties  should  be  allowed  to  thwart.  We 
recognise,  however,  that  the  abnormal  conditions  brought 
about  by  the  war  make  it  difficult  to  carry  out  some  of  the 
changes  required.  We  do  not  think  these  difficulties  ought 
to  be  magnified.  The  advantage  gained  by  proofs  of  a 
sincere  desire  to  let  the  Irish  people  manage  their  own  affairs 
Avill  far  outweigh  disturbance  of  official  routine.  But,  if  it  is 
clearly  laid  down  that  any  reserved  power  will  be  operative 
immediately  after  the  war,  a  certain  amount  of  postponement 
is  admissible.  What  we  altogether  object  to  is  the  postpone- 
ment of  vital  questions  until  after  the  war.  Now  is  the  time 
to  decide  them  in  principle.  This  makes  it  impossible  for  us 
to  agree  to  any  suggestions  made  by  the  Government  during 
our  deliberations  to  leave  the  future  of  Customs  and  Excise 
in  complete  uncertainty. 

38.  No  doubt  it  might  be  difficult  to  transfer  the  control  of 
these  two  services  during  the  war,  and  we  therefore  consent 
to  their  temporary  maintenance  under  Imperial  authority. 
But  a  Joint  Board  should  be  immediately  set  up  to  determine 
the  true  revenue  of  Ireland  from  these  taxes,  and  to  allocate 
their  proceeds,  as  so  determined,  to  the  Irish  Exchequer. 

39.  We  do  not  like  to  contemplate  even  a  temporary 
reservation  of  the  Police  or  Post  Office,  But,  to  meet  the  views 
of  others,  we  have  agreed  that  the  Imperial  and  Irish  Govern- 
ments may  jointly  arrange  for  the  unified  control  of  either 
service  during  the  war. 

Land  Ptjrchase. 

40.  It  is  an  important  part  of  any  scheme  for  the  settlement 
of  the  Irish  question  that  Land  Purchase  should  be  completed 
on  terms  equitable  alike  to  landlord  and  tenant ;  that  the 
administration  should  be  Irish,  and  that  the  full  cost  of  Land 
Purchase,  past  and  future,  should  be  borne  by  the  Irish 
Government,  on  the  understanding  that  it  be  reckoned  as  part 
of  Ireland's  contribution  to  Imperial  services.  Happily,  no 
serious  difference  of  opinion  has  arisen  in  the  Convention  on 
the  proposals  framed  by  the  able  Committee  which  dealt  with 
Land  Purchase,  and  we  recommend  that  a  measure  embodying 
the  scheme  outlined  in  its  Report  shall  be  annexed  to  the 
Constitutional  Act, 


APPENDICES  185 

SUMMARY. 

41*  To  sum  up,  we  propose  a  Constitution  conferring  powers 
on  Ireland  which  are  strictly  consistent  with  Imperial  unity 
and  strictly  conform  to  the  limits  set  by  the  reference  to  the 
Convention. 

42.  We  propose  an  Irish  Parliament  with  full  powers  of 
legislation  in  all  Irish  affairs,  subject  to  the  religious  safe- 
guards contained  in  Section  3  of  the  Act  of  1914  (the  existing 
disabilities  to  be  removed  in  the  Constitutional  Act),  and  with 
full  powers  of  taxation,  but  with  no  power  to  make  laws  on 
Imperial  concerns  ;  the  Crown,  foreign  relations,  peace  and 
war,  the  Army  and  Navy  and  other  allied  matters  duly 
specified. 

43.  At  the  same  time,  we  do  our  utmost  to  meet  the  doubts 
and  objections  of  Unionists  by  agreeing  to  the  following 
provisions  : — 

(1)  Generous    additional    representation    in    the    Irish 

Parliament. 

(2)  A  guarantee  for  a  reasonable  period  of  Free  Trade 

between  Ireland  and  Great  Britain  in  articles  which 
are  the  produce  or  manufacture  of  either  country. 

(3)  A  Joint  Advisory  Commission  to  secure  co-operation 

in  commercial  and  postal  matters. 

(4)  Continued  representation  in  the  Imperial  Parhament 

in  such  a  way  as  to  reflect  the  views  of  the  different 
parties  in  the  Irish  Parliament. 

(5)  A  fixed  statutory  contribution  to  Imperial  expenses. 

(6)  Independent  Civil  Service  Commissions. 

(7)  Suspension  for  a  term  of  years  of  the  power  to  raise 

local  defence  forces. 

(8)  Suspension  till  the  end  of  the  war  of  the  powers  over 

Customs  and  Excise,  with  an  arrangement  to  be 

made  by  joint  agreement  for  the  control  of  Police 

and  Post  Office  by  the  two  Governments  for  a  like 

period. 

We  also  agree  to  the  scheme  adopted  by  the  Convention  for 

the  speedy  completion  of  Land  Purchase,  and  express  our 

concurrence  in  the  Housing  scheme. 

CONCLUSION. 

44.  Such  a  Constitution  would,  we  believe,  meet  with  the 
approval  of  the  great  majority  of  the  people  of  Ireland.  It 
would  be  accepted  by  our  kindred  in  the  United  States  and 
Colonies.  It  is  generous  to  the  Irish  Unionists,  and  good  for 
Great  Britain  as  well  as  for  Ireland.     Had  it  been  put  into 


186    THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

operation  at  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  World's  history 
might  have  been  very  different  in  these  deciding  years. 
Better  late  than  never. 

•if  J.  M.  Harty,  Archbishop  of  Cashel. 

^  Patrick  O'Donnell,  Bishop  of  Eaphoe. 

^  Joseph  MacRory,  Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor. 

L.  O'Neill,  Lord  Mayor  of  Dublin. 

T.  C.  BuTTERFiELD,  Lord  Mayor  of  Cork. 

P.  O'H.  Peters,  Mayor  of  Clonmel. 

Joseph  Devlin,  M.P.,  West  Belfast. 

Thomas  Lundon,  M.P.,  Limerick  East. 

T.  J.  Harbison,  M.P.,  East  Tyrone. 

W.  M.  Murphy. 

H.  Garahan,  Chairman,  Longford  County  Council. 

John  Bolger,  Chairman,  Wexford  County  Council. 

Joseph  K.  Kett,  Chairman,  Clare  County  Council. 

John  McHugh,  Chairman,  Fermanagh  County  Council. 

Thomas  Toal,  Chairman,  Monaghan  County  Council. 

William  R.  Gtjbbiius,  Chairman,  Limerick  County  Council 

Thomas  Duggan,  Chairman,  Tipperary  (North  Riding) 
County  Council. 

James  McGarry,  Chairman,  Mayo  County  Council. 

James  Dunlevy,  Chairman,  Donegal  County  Council 

P.  J.  O'Neill,  Chairman,  County  Dublin  County  Council. 

John  Byrne,  Chairman,  Queen's  County  County  Council. 

John    Flanagan,    Chairman,    Ballina    Urban    District 
Council. 


NOTE  BY  THE  MAJORITY  OF  THE  NATIONALISTS. 

1.  In  order  to  reach  an  agreement  between  Unionists  and 
Nationalists,  we  do  not  at  this  moment  desire  to  press  our 
objection  to  the  fiscal  proposals  contained  in  the  Prime 
Minister's  letter,  as  we  hold  it  to  be  of  paramount  importance 
that  an  Irish  Parliament  with  an  Executive  responsible 
thereto  should  be  immediately  established,  and  that,  con- 
currently with  the  legislation  necessary  to  effect  that  object, 
measures  should  be  passed  by  the  Imperial  Parliament  to  pro- 
vide for  the  entire  completion  of  Land  Purchase  and  the 
solution  of  the  Housing  Problem. 

2.  In  coming  to  this  decision  we  are  largely  moved  by  the 
belief  that  the  Government  we  are  helping  to  establish  will  be 
an  effective  instrument  in  obtaining  for  Ireland  by  general 
consent  whatever  further  powers  her  material  interests  require  ; 
and  that  the  proposal  to  pay  into  the  Irish  Exchequer  the 
full  proceeds  of  Irish  taxation,  direct  and  indirect,  subject 
only  to  an  agreed  contribution  to  Imperial  expenditure,  will 
give  the  Irish  Government  means  for  internal  development, 
and  will  prevent  the  ruinous  increase  of  burdens  which  would 
certainly  result  if  Ireland  remained  liable  to  the  full  weight  of 
Imperialtaxation,  and  jointly  responsible  forthe  Imperial  debt. 

3.  But  since  the  decision  upon  Ireland's  claim  to  full  fiscal 
autonomy  is  only  postponed,  we,  the  undersigned,  desire  to  put 
on  record  against  the  time  when  that  decision  has  to  be  made, 
our  conviction  that,  according  to  all  precedents  in  the  British 
Empire,  an  Irish  Parliament  is  entitled,  and  ought  to  become 
the  sole  taxing  authority  for  Ireland,  unless  and  until,  in  the 
general  interest  it  sees  fit  to  part  with  some  portion  of  its 
financial  independence.  We  hold,  however,  that  in  the 
common  interest  of  both  countries  there  should  be  a  Free 
Trade  agreement  between  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

4.  We  desire  to  add  that  we  protest  most  strongly  against 
the  suggestion  that  alternative  sittings  of  the  Irish  Parliament 
might  be  held  in  some  other  place  than  Dublin,  and  also 
against  the  proposal  that  there  should  be  set  up  anywhere  in 
Ireland  other  than  in  Dublin  a  complete  branch  of  the  Irish 
administration.* 

*  Lord  MacDonnell  is  unable  to  participate  in  this  paragraph  for  the 
following  reasons  :  this  matter  was  never  raised  or  discussed  in  the  Con- 
vention, and  without  the  fullest  discussion  he  abstains  from  expressing  an 
opinion  on  it ;  Lord  MacDonnell  is  well  aware  that  the  proposal  would  give 
rise  to  vehement  opposition  in  Leinster,  Munster  and  Connaught,  and 
probably  amongst  the  Nationahst  population  of  Ulster  ;  it  would  certainly 
impose  many  hardships  upon  the  great  majority  of  the  Irish  people  ;  and 
would  unquestionably  be  productive  of  extreme  administrative  incon- 
venience. But  so  strong  is  Lord  MacDonnell's  desire  to  meet  all  reasonable 
wishes  of  the  Unionists  of  Ulster  that  he  feels  unable  to  negative  the  proposal 
without  having  before  him  the  Ulster  Unionist  views  upon  the  point. 


188   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

5.  We  further  hold  that,  by  the  Act  constituting  an  Irish 
ParUament,  power  should  be  taken  to  prevent  dumping,  and 
we  believe  that  this  could  most  conveniently  be  done  by  pro- 
hibiting the  export  from  Great  Britain  to  Ireland,  and  vice 
versa,  of  any  article  which  is  being  sold  under  the  cost  of  its 
production.  It  should  be  made  a  duty  of  the  Joint  Exchequer 
Board  to  enquire  into  alleged  cases  of  dumping,  and  action 
should  originate  on  a  report  from  them. 

M.  K.  Barry,  Chairman,  Cork  County  Council. 
William   Broderick.,    V ice-Chairman,    Youghal    Urban 

District  Council. 
J.  Butler,  Chairman,  Kilkenny  County  Council. 
J.  J.  Clancy,  M.P.,  North  Dublin. 
James  J.  Coen,  Chairman,  Westmeath  County  Council. 
Daniel  Condren,  Chairman,  Wicklow  County  Council. 
Patrick  Dampsey. 

John  Dooly,  Chairman,  King's  County  County  Council. 
W.  A.  DoRAN,  Chairman,  Louth  County  Council. 
Thomas  Fallon,  Chairman,  Leitrim  County  Council. 
John  Fitzgibbon,  M.P.,  Chairman,  Roscommon  County 

Council. 
M.  Go  VERNE  Y,  Chairman,  Carlow  Urban  District  Council. 
Granard. 

Stephen  Gwynn,  M.P.,  Galway  City. 
Thomas  Halligan,  Chairman,  Meath  County  Council. 
Walter  Kavanagh,  Chairman,  Carlow  County  Council. 
Martin  McDonogh,  Chairman,  Galway  Urban  District 

Council. 
MacDonnell.* 

James  McDonnell,  Chairman,  Galway  County  Council. 
A.  R.  MacMullen,  Chairman,  Cork  Chamber  of  Commerce. 
M.  J.  MiNCH,  Chairman,  Kildare  County  Council. 
John  O'Dowd,  M.P.,  Chairman,  Sligo  County  Council. 
Charles  P.  O'Neill,  Chairman,  Pembroke  Urban  District 

Council. 
J.  J.  O'SuLLiVAN,  Mayor  of  Waterford  (1917). 
T.  Power,  Chairman,  Waterford  County  Council. 
D.  Reilly,  Chairman,  Cavan  County  Council. 
M.  Slattery,  Chairman,  Tipperary  (South  Riding)  County 

Council. 
Bertram  Windle. 


NOTE  BY  THE  MAJORITY   OF  THE  LABOUR 
REPRESENTATIVES. 


1.  We  desire  to  make  it  clear  that  we  have  supported  the 
agreement  which  has  been  brought  about  in  the  Convention 
between  Unionists  and  Nationahsts,  because  we  beheve  that 
self-government  is  in  the  best  interests  of  the  country,  and 
that  a  measure  giving  it  effect  should  be  passed  promptly 
into  law. 

2.  We  recognise  that  an  agreement  could  not  have  been 
brought  about  without  certain  temporary  concessions  made 
in  regard  to  the  Constitution  of  the  Irish  Parliament  which  we, 
as  democrats  and  representatives  of  Labour,  regard  with 
strong  dislike.  But  we  feel  so  deeply  the  necessity  of  setting 
up  a  Parliament  in  Ireland,  in  which  Labour  amongst  other 
interests,  may  be  able  to  find  a  place,  that  we  have  been 
willing  to  subordinate  our  democratic  beliefs  to  what  we 
conceive  to  be  the  highest  interests  of  Ireland. 

Senate. 

3.  As  to  the  constitution  of  the  Senate  we  are  still  totally 
opposed  to  the  nominated  element  believing  same  should  be 
elected  on  a  democratic  vote  if  Labour  is  to  be  given  a  chance 
to  be  represented  in  that  body  by  its  own  choice.  So  strongly 
do  we  feel  on  this  point  that  we  are  prepared  to  recommend 
our  fellow  workmen  not  to  accept  nomination  to  the  chamber. 

4.  As  a  compromise  we  are  prepared  to  agree  with  the 
nominations  as  outlined  in  Head  9,  sub-heads  (1)  to  (5). 

House  of  Commons. 

5.  We  are  of  opinion  that  the  elected  members  of  the  Irish 
House  of  Commons,  like  the  members  of  the  Imperial  House  of 
Commons,  and  of  the  principal  Legislatures  in  the  British 
Dominions,  should  receive  a  salary  which  we  suggest  should 
be  at  the  rate  of  £400  per  annum. 

FRANCHISE. 

6.  W^e  are  of  opinion  that  the  Representation  of  the  People 
Act,  1918,  should  continue  to  be  the  law  governing  the 
franchise  in  Ireland. 

James  McCarron.  Robert  Waugh. 

Henry  T.  Whitley.  John  Murphy. 

Charles  McKay. 


NOTE   BY   SOUTHERN   UNIONISTS. 

We  think  it  necessary  to  add  to  the  Report  of  the  Proceed- 
ings of  the  Convention  a  brief  statement  of  our  position, 
because  the  Resolution  introduced  by  us  on  January  2nd, 
1918,  was,  owing  to  circumstances,  not  brought  to  a  decision. 

1.  We  desire  to  record  our  unaltered  conviction  that  the 
Legislative  Union  provides  the  best  system  of  government  for 
Ireland,  but  havirg  entered  the  Convention  on  an  appeal 
from  H.  M.  Government,  based  on  high  considerations  of 
Allied  and  Imperial  interests  which  it  was  impossible  to  dis- 
regard, we  have  endeavoured  to  assist  the  Convention  in 
devising  a  Constitution  which  would  meet  the  aspirations  for 
self-government  within  the  Empire  long  held  by  a  great 
majority  of  the  Irish  people. 

2.  We  believe  that  an  Irish  Parliament  can  only  be  estab- 
lished with  safety  to  Imperial  interests  and  security  for  the 
minority  in  Ireland,  by  the  participation  of  Irishmen  of  various 
classes  and  creeds  in  the  government  which  is  rendered  possible 
by  the  safeguards  agreed  with  practical  unanimity  by  the 
Convention  and  for  which  no  provision  was  made  under  the 
Act  of  1914. 

3.  We  regard  the  following  points  as  vital  to  any  satisfactory 
settlement,  and  our  action  must  be  subject  to  these  conditions  : 

(1)  That  Ireland  occupy  the  same  position  as  other  parts 
of  the  United  Kingdom  in  any  scheme  for  the 
Federation  of  the  Empire  or  the  United  Kingdom. 

12)  That  all  Imperial  questions  and  services,  including 
,  the  levying  of  Customs  Duties,  be  left  in  the  hands 

^''      of  the  Parliament  of  the  United  Kingdom. 

(3)  That  Ireland  send  representatives  to  Westminster. 

(4)  That  the  whole  of  Ireland  participate  in  any  Irish 

Parliament. 

(5)  That  the  safeguards  in  the  Report  agreed  to  by  the 

Convention  be  established. 

(6)  That  an  adequate  contribution  be  made  by  Ireland 

to  Imperial  services. 
Our  lamented  colleague.  Sir  Henry  Blake,  expressed  by  letter 
in  January  last  his  concurrence  with  us  on  the  above  points 

(Signed) 

MiDLETON.  AnDEEW  JaMESON. 

Edward  H.  Andrews.  Mayo. 

Desart  Oranmore  and  Browne. 

John  Dublin.  J.  B.  Powell. 

WlLLLlM  GOULDING.  GeO.  F.  StEWART. 

I  desire  to  associate  myself  with  the  above,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  paragraph  1.     . 

(Signed)  Dunraven. 


MR.  LLOYD  GEORGE'S  LETTER  OF  25th  FEBRUARY 

1918. 


10  Downing  Street, 
London,  S.W., 

25th  Februarij,  1918. 
Dear  Sir  Horace  Plunkett, 

I  had  the  privilege  of  discussing,  during  the  last  three  weeks, 
the  situation  in  the  Irish  Convention  with  the  delegates  whom 
the  Convention  appointed  to  confer  with  the  Government. 
You  will  allow  me  to  thank  the  Convention  for  sending  over  a 
delegation  so  representative  of  all  groups  of  opinion  within  the 
Convention.  The  Government  have  thereby  been  enabled  to 
learn  the  views  of  different  parties,  and  to  appreciate  better 
than  would  otherwise  have  been  possible  the  position  that  has 
now  been  reached  within  the  Convention.  I  regret  that  the 
urgency  of  questions  vital  to  the  immediate  conduct  of  the  war 
has  protracted  the  meetings  with  various  groups  longer  than 
it  was  hoped  would  be  necessary,  but  I  am  confident  the 
Convention  will  recognise  the  exceptional  circumstances  of  the 
time  and  will  imderstand  there  has  been  no  avoidable  delay. 

The  conclusion  to  which  the  Government  have  come  as  a 
result  of  their  interviews  with  the  representatives  of  the  Con- 
vention may  be  stated  as  follows  : — 

The  Government  are  determined  that,  so  far  as  is  in  their 
power,  the  labours  of  the  Convention  shall  not  be  in  vain.  On 
receiving  the  report  of  the  Convention,  the  Government  will 
give  it  immediate  attention  and  will  proceed  with  the  least 
possible  delay  to  submit  legislative  proposals  to  Parliament. 
They  wish,  however,  to  emphasise  the  urgent  importance  of 
getting  a  settlement  in  and  through  the  Convention.  The 
Convention  has  been  brought  together  to  endeavour  to  find 
a  settlement  by  consent.  If  the  Convention  fails  to  secure 
this,  the  settlement  of  the  question  will  be  much  more  difficult, 
but  it  will  be  a  task  incumbent  on  the  Government.  It  is, 
therefore,  of  the  highest  importance  both  for  the  present 
situation  and  for  future  good  relations  in  and  with  Ireland 
that  the  settlement  should  come  from  an  Irish  assembly,  and 
from  mutaul  agreement  among  all  parties.  To  secure  this 
there  must  be  concessions  on  all  sides.  It  has  been  so  in 
every  Convention,  from  that  of  the  U.S.A.  to  that  of  South 
Africa. 

There  is,  however,  a  further  consideration  which  has  an 


192   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

important  bearing  on  the  possibilities  of  the  present  situation. 
During  the  period  of  the  war  it  is  necessary  to  proceed  as  far 
as  possible  by  agreement.  Questions  on  which  there  is  an 
acute  difference  of  opinion  in  Ireland  or  in  Great  Britain  must 
be  held  over  for  determination  after  the  war.  At  the  same 
time  it  is  clear  to  the  Government,  in  view  of  previous  attempts 
at  settlement,  and  of  the  deliberations  of  the  Convention  itself, 
that  the  only  hope  of  agreement  lies  in  a  solution  which,  on 
the  one  side,  provides  for  the  unity  of  Ireland  under  a  single 
Legislature  with  adequate  safeguards  for  the  interests  of 
Ulster  and  the  Southern  Unionists,  and,  on  the  other,  preserves 
the  well-being  of  the  Empire  and  the  fundamental  unity  of  the 
United  Kingdom. 

It  is  evident  that  there  is  on  the  part  of  all  parties  in  the 
Convention  a  willingness  to  provide  for  and  safeguard  the 
interests  of  the  Empire  and  of  the  United  Kingdom.  A  settle- 
ment can  now  be  reached  which  will  reserve  by  common 
consent  to  the  Imperial  Parliament  its  suzerainty/,  and  its 
control  of  Army,  Navy,  and  Foreign  Policy  and  other  Imperial 
services,  while  providing  for  Irish  representation  at  West- 
minster, and  for  a  proper  contribution  from  Ireland  to  Imperial 
expenditure.  All  these  matters  are  now  capable  of  being 
settled  within  the  Convention  on  a  basis  satisfactory  both  to 
the  Imperial  Government  and  to  Ireland. 

There  remains,  however,  the  difficult  question  of  Customs 
and  Excise.  The  Government  are  aware  of  the  serious 
objections  which  can  be  raised  against  the  transfer  of  these 
services  to  an  Irish  Legislature.  It  would  be  ractically 
impossible  to  make  such  a  disturbance  of  the  fiscal  and  financial 
relations  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  in  the  midst  of  a  great 
war.  It  might  also  be  incompatible  with  that  federal  re- 
organisation of  the  United  Kingdom  in  favour  of  which  there 
is  a  growing  body  of  opinion.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Govern- 
ment recognise  the  strong  claim  that  can  be  made  that  an  Irish 
Legislature  should  have  some  control  over  indirect  taxation  as 
the  only  form  of  taxation  which  torches  the  great  majority 
of  the  people,  and  which  in  the  past  has  represented  the  greater 
partlof  Irish  revenue. 

The  Government  feel  that  this  is  a  matter  which  cannot  be 
finally  settled  at  the  present  time.  They  therefore  suggest  for 
the  consideration  of  the  Convention  that,  during  the  period  of 
the  war  and  for  a  period  of  two  years  thereafter,  the  control 
of  Customs  and  Excise  should  be  reserved  to  the  United 
Kingdom  Parliament  ;  that,  as  soon  as  possible  .  fter  the  Irish 
Parliament  has  been  established,  a  Joint  Exchequer  Board 
should  be  set  up  to  secure  the  determination  of  the  true 
revenue  of  Ireland — a  provision  which  is  essential  to  a  system 
of  responsible  Irish  Government  and  to  the  making  of  a 


APPENDICES  193 

national  balance  sheet,  and  that,  at  the  end  of  the  war,  a 
Royal  Commission  should  be  established  to  re-examine  impar- 
tially and  thoroughly  the  financial  relations  of  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  to  report  on  the  contribution  of  Ireland  to 
Imperial  expenditure,  and  to  submit  proposals  as  to  the  best 
means  of  adjusting  the  economic  and  fiscal  relations  of  the 
two  countries. 

The  Government  consider  that  during  the  period  of  the  war 
the  control  of  all  taxation  other  than  Customs  and  Excise 
could  be  handed  over  to  the  Irish  Parliament  ;  that,  for  the 
period  of  the  war  and  two  years  thereafter  an  agreed  pro- 
portion of  the  annual  Imperial  expenditure  should  be  fixed  as 
the  Irish  contribution  ;  and  that  all  Irish  revenue  from 
Customs  and  Excise  as  determined  by  the  Joint  Exchequer 
Board,  after  deduction  of  the  agreed  Irish  contribution  to 
Imperial  expenditure,  should  be  paid  into  the  Irish  Exchequer. 
For  administrative  reasons,  during  the  period  of  the  war  it  is 
necessary  that  the  Police  should  remain  under  Imperial  control 
and  it  seems  to  the  Government  to  be  desirable  that  for  the 
same  period  the  Postal  service  should  be  a  reserved  service. 

Turning  to  the  other  essential  element  of  a  settlement — the 
securing  of  an  agreement  to  establish  a  single  Legislature  for 
an  united  Ireland — ^the  Government  believe  that  the  Con- 
vention has  given  much  thought  to  the  method  of  overcoming 
objection  on  the  part  of  Unionists,  North  and  South,  to  this 
proposal.  They  understand  that  one  scheme  provides  for 
additional  representation  by  means  of  nomination  or  election. 
They  understand  further  that  it  has  also  been  suggested  that 
a  safeguard  of  Ulster  interests  might  be  secured  by  the  pro- 
vision of  an  Ulster  Committee  within  the  Irish  Parliament, 
with  130 wer  to  modify,  and  if  necessary  to  exclude,  the  applica- 
tion to  Ulster  of  certain  measures  either  of  legislation  or 
administration  which  are  not  consonant  with  the  interests  of 
Ulster.  This  appears  to  be  a  workable  expedient,  whereby 
special  consideration  of  Ulster  conditions  can  be  secured  and 
the  objections  to  a  single  Legislature  for  Ireland  overcome. 

The  Government  would  also  point  to  the  fact  that  it  has 
been  proposed  that  the  Irish  Parliament  should  meet  in  alter- 
nate sessions  in  Dublin  and  Belfast,  and  that  the  principal 
offices  of  an  Irish  Department  of  manufacturing  industry  and 
commerce  should  be  located  in  Belfast.  They  beHeve  that  the 
willingness  to  discuss  these  suggestions  is  clear  evidence  of  the 
desire  to  consider  any  expedient  vv^hich  may  help  to  remove 
the  causes  of  Irish  disunion.  The  fact  that,  in  order  to  meet 
the  claims  o'i-  different  parts  of  the  community,  the  South 
African  Convention  decided  that  the  Legislature  was  to  be 
established  in  Cape  Town,  the  Administrative  Departments  to 
be  situated  in  Pretoria,  and  the  Supreme  Court  was  to  sit  in 


194   THE  CONVENTION  AND  SINN  FEIN 

Blodmfontein,  is  a  proof  that  proposals  such  as  these  may 
markedly  contribute  to  eventful  agreement. 

Finally,  the  Government  have  noted  the  very  important 
Report  which  has  been  prepared  on  the  subject  of  Land 
Purchase  and  on  which  an  unanimous  conclusion  has  been 
reached  by  the  Committee  of  the  Convention  set  up  to  consider 
this  subject.  If  this  Report  comniends  itself  to  the  Con- 
vention, the  Government  would  be  prepared  to  introduce  in 
Parliament  as  part  of  the  plan  of  settlement  (and  simulta- 
neously with  the  Bill  amending  the  Government  of  Ireland 
Act,  1914)  a  measure  for  the  purpose  of  enabling  Parliament  to 
give  eli'ect  to  the  recommendations  of  the  Convention  on  the 
subject  of  Land  Purchase.  The  Government  have  also  had 
submitted  to  them  by  the  Labour  representatives  in  the 
Convention  the  need  of  provision  for  dealing  with  the  urgent 
question  of  housing  in  Ireland,  and  on  receiving  recommenda- 
tions from  the  Convention  on  the  subject  they  would  be  pre- 
pared to  consider  the  inclusion  in  the  scheme  of  settlement  of  a 
substantial  provision  for  immediately  dealing  with  this  vital 
problem. 

There  thus  seems  to  be  within  the  reach  of  the  Convention 
the  possibility  of  obtaining  a  settlement  which  will  lay  the 
foundaticti  of  a  new  era  in  the  government  both  of  Ireland  and 
of  Great  Britain.  It  is  a  settlement  which  will  give  to  Irishmen 
the  control  of  their  own  affairs,  while  preserving  the  funda'1 
mental  unity  of  the  United  Kingdom,  and  enabling  Irishmen 
to  work  for  the  good  of  the  Empire  as  well  as  for  the  good  of 
Ireland.  With  all  the  earnestness  in  their  power  the  Govern- 
ment appeal  to  the  members  of  the  Convention  to  agree  upon 
a  scheme  which  can  be  carried  out  at  once  and  which  will  go 
a  long  way  towards  realising  the  hopes  of  Irishmen  all  over 
the  world,  without  prejudice  to  the  future  consideration  of 
questions  on  which  at  present  agreement  cannot  be  attained  in 
Ireland  and  which  are  also  intimately  connected  with  con- 
stitutional problems  affecting  every  part  of  the  United  King- 
dom, the  consideration  of  which  must  be  postponed  till  the 
end  of  the  present  war.  This  is  an  opportunity  for  a  settle- 
ment by  consent  that  may  never  recur,  and  which,  if  it  is 
allowed  to  pass,  must  inevitably  entail  consequences  for 
which  no  man  can  wish  to  make  himself  responsible. 

Yours  sincerelyj 

D.  Lloyd  George. 


THE    DIVISION    ON   CUSTOMS,  AND    EXCISE, 
MARCH    12,  1918. 


FOR  (38). 

E.  H.  Andrews. 

W.  Broderick. 

J.  J.  Coen. 

D.  Cc«adrer. 

Earl  of  Desart. 

J.  Dooly. 

Captain  Doran. 

Archbishop  of  Dublin. 

T.  Fallon 

J.  Fitzgibbon. 

Sir  W.  Goulding. 

Earl  of  Granard. 

Captain  Gwynn. 

T.  Halligan. 

A.  Jameson. 

W.  Kavanagh. 

J.  McCarron. 

M.  McDonogh. 

J.  McDonnell. 

Lord  MacDonnell. 

C.  McKay. 

A.  R.  MacMullen. 

Earl  of  Mayo. 

Viscount  Midleton. 

J,  Murphy. 

J.  O'Dowd. 

C.  P.  O'Neill. 

Lord  Oranmore  and  Browne, 

Dr.  O'SuUivan. 

J.  B.  Powell. 

T.  Power. 

Provost  of  Trinity  College. 

Sir  S.  B.  Qiiin. 

D.  Reilly. 
M.  Slattery. 
G.  F.  Stewart. 
H.  T.  Whitley. 
Sir  B.  Windle. 


AGAINST  (34). 

Sir  R.  N.  Anderson. 

Archbishop  of  Armagh. 

H.  B.  Armstrong. 

H.  T.  Barrie. 

Lord  Mayor  of  Belfast. 

J.  Bolger. 

Archbishop  of  Cashel. 

Sir  G.  Clark. 

Colonel  J.  J.  Clark. 

Lord  Mayor  of  Cork. 

CoL  Sharman-Crawford. 

J.  Devlin. 

Bishop  of  Down  and  Connor. 

T.  Duggan. 

H.  Garahan. 

William  Gubbins. 

J.  Hanna. 

J.  K.  Kett. 

M.  E.  Knight. 

Marquis  of  Londonderry. 

T.  Lundon. 

J.  S.  F.  McCance. 

Sir  C.  McCullagh. 

J.  McGarry. 

H.  G.  MacGeagh. 

J.  McHugh. 

Moderator  General  Assembly 

W.  M.  Murphy. 

P.  J.  O'Neill. 

P.  O'H.  Peters, 

H.  M.  Pollock. 

Bishop  of  Raphoe. 

T.  Toal. 

Sir  W.  Whitla. 


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Date  Due 

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132381 


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